


Texas Time

by RenaRoo



Series: Hero Time [1]
Category: Red vs. Blue
Genre: Characters Tagged As They Come, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-10
Updated: 2016-08-02
Packaged: 2018-05-25 20:13:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 24
Words: 76,791
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6208507
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RenaRoo/pseuds/RenaRoo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>[Hero Time Prequel] Her name is Tex and she’s got a righteous fury to burn into her crappy neighborhood, whether the city wants her or not. Being a superhero, however, is never quite as simple as it seems, and only gets more complicated by her constantly in distress boyfriend and the beck and call of the premiere superhero team of the city whose leader seems intent on keeping her off the roster.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Tex: Year One

**Author's Note:**

  * For [saintash](https://archiveofourown.org/users/saintash/gifts), [Goodluckdetective (scorpiontales)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/scorpiontales/gifts).



> So by popular demand we are here! The prequel to Hero Time and a righteous romp all about Tex’s early adventures. I have actually been looking forward to this and the to-come sequel of Hero Time since before I was even done with the first story. Everyone’s excitement and enthusiasm about this universe and this take on our favorite characters has really fueled me beyond compare and I’m SO excited to join another adventure with all you guys.
> 
> I hope you all enjoy!
> 
> Special thanks to @ashleystlawrence for always being so wonderful to bounce ideas around with me on this project and so many more! Also love out to every single one of you who have shown such tremendous support for the series <3 This is for you

She returned to Blood Gulch expecting a great, many things. But the expectation the city delivered on more than any other was that the more things changed, the more they really, truly stayed the same.

Muggings were one of those things. Muggins never really changed, and in an armpit of a borough like Blood Gulch they could be seen as common and expected.

Which was exactly what she had been banking on.

When the sun hadn’t even set yet, she had pulled her bike behind a few well hidden garbage piles, changed out her dusty old tee for a bullet resistant vest, pulled her gloves underneath the blazoned leather jacket’s cuffs, and pulled down the black mask over her eyes.

The trip back to Blood Gulch from the too small Lone Star town had been long enough for her to set some affairs in order. She had a mask, she had a name – and more than either of those things she had _powers._

So when she stood over the edges of one of Blood Gulch’s more popular late night avenues and she overheard the frantic shouts from below as a man took off with another man’s wallet, she let her mouth pull away to a ludicrously large grin.

“Showtime,” she said to herself before fading into the night air.

Her entire first day back in the city had been dedicated toward relearning the streets around her. Rather than hunt for apartments or hotel rooms, she scouted the gym where her old man had worked at, she mapped the back alleys, and she made a few appearances at the local bars to get a feel for the atmosphere she had come home to.

All for the moment where the mugger ran toward nearest shortcut, so that when he thought he had gotten away scott free, he ran headlong into her invisible fist. And he did so with enough force that he nearly flipped a full circle in the air before ultimately landing on his back, _hard._

“Oh my fucking _god,”_ he whimpered from the ground, no doubt seeing stars in his vision.

“You don’t have to be that formal,” she said, slowly fading back into her own skin, letting the mugger see her towering above him. She wore a shit eating grin well as she popped her knuckles one by one. “You can just call me _Tex.”_

Seeming to regain some facet of common sense, the man tried to push himself back up. He swayed with each attempt, a trickle of blood working its way out of his now very crooked nose. 

“What the fuck – did you _punch_ me?” he yelled.

“Actually you ran into my fist,” Tex said, far too amused with it all. “You’ll _know_ when I punch you.”

Finally making it to his feet, the man swayed again. “Hey, _fuck you!”_

Tex just kept her grin. “Nah. You don’t deserve it.”

Boiling with anger and irritation, the man threw a full bodied swing at her. Tex merely side stepped the first and breezily ducked below the second. It was such a simple series of dips and dives, she almost felt like it was a dance they had well rehearsed.

“I’m thinking you stick to mugging because your moves with the ladies leaves something to be desired,” Tex jested just before piloting under another fruitless swing, rotating behind the mugger. She smacked him between the shoulders with enough force to send him straight into a brick wall.

Even more dizzied, the man whipped around off balance, trying to keep his fists up. “Who the fuck _are you!?”_ he roared.

Clicking her tongue against her teeth, Tex shook her head. “Asshole, do you not know how to pay attention? I _told_ you, I’m Tex–”

Everything around them went deathly silent, allowing the hard _SMACK_ made by the mugger’s knuckles against Tex’s cheek to reverberate against the walls. They stood in silence, the mugger’s body shaking as he realized that little more than Tex’s cheek had so much as twitched at the hit. 

Her grin long gone, Tex ran her tongue over her teeth. She narrowed her eyes as the man slowly withdrew his hand.

“I’m sorry,” she said darkly, “did you just lay a hand on me?” 

Visibly shrinking back, the man recoiled. “Umm…”

Feeling a red hot rage, Tex roared in his face, “ _Motherfucker!”_ and threw a real punch at him with nearly twenty percent of her boiling over strength. 

He was out before he hit the ground.

Tex glowered over her first apprehended criminal and shook her head angrily. “No more banter,” she decided. “Shouldn’t have even wasted time on some punk ass like him.”

She huffed, putting her hands on her hips before nudging the mugger with the tip of her boot. When he gave her no resistance she squatted beside him and rummaged through his pockets, finding three wallets with three different licenses. None of them matched the mugger’s features.

 _Welcome to the city,_ she thought, checking the cash and pulling out tens from each. 

“So grateful for that Hero Tax,” she joked to herself before standing up and throwing the wallets onto the unconscious perp. She stuffed the money into her back pocket and started back to the rooftops with a practiced ease. 

She would put a call in to the police, let them know where to find the night’s serial mugger. And after that, with officially thirty bucks to her name, she was going to check out the diner she parked her bike behind and maybe double up on meals. 

She deserved it, for giving Blood Gulch its own hero for the first time.

After all, Tex was just the kind of hero Blood Gulch deserved.


	2. Born Again

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my gosh I am so excited about this story. It’s one of the things I look forward to writing the most honestly. This whole AU is so much fun and you guys make it so much more fun and I can’t thank you all enough for that. I’m hoping to pretty regularly update Texas Time once a week, which is about how often I updated Hero Time before. We’ll see!
> 
> Special thanks to @secretlystephaniebrown, @thepheonixqueen, @analiarvb, Odds_Evens, nota4, Yin, Beawolfs_Pen, @notatroll7, @ashleystlawrence, @arirashkae, @pandorasbluebox, @littlefists, staininspace, and @texthemess on tumblr and AO3 for the feedback!

The Wednesday paper’s headline, like so many other days’ headlines, loudly proclaimed an excited and trying tale of triumph for the city’s signature heroes. It postulated their continuing exploits and screamed about the exciting opportunity for those who saw themselves as capable of the same heroics to apply to the Freelancers through the form available in the back.

Somewhat ironically, the _Freelancers_ required a monetary charge to submit said application.

And, of course, there were no doubt hundreds if not _thousands_ of city denizens willing to pay for just the opportunity to join the organization. To be featured in the colored splash photo in the newspaper front and center. 

To pose along with their pristine smiles and ridiculously hindering, brightly colored costumes. And _god_ those practiced poses and perfectly fluffed _hair_ …

“Fucking losers,” Tex snorted as she flipped through the newspaper again. 

The crinkling sound of the cheap print was getting the attention of the irritable looking manager behind the register. His scowl only deepening with every time he was able to tap through all of his fingers against the counter while Tex put off coming to the counter. She still had to pay for the breakfast burrito and orange juice in her hands.

Tex took a bite of the burrito before putting the newspaper up, ignoring the greasy thumbprint she left on it, and walked over to the register.

He stared at her as she put the burrito and the orange juice on the counter then began to fish around in her pockets – _all_ of them – for what she needed. His dead even glare did not give up even as she threw down a dollar and change. 

The cashier waited for Tex to fish out enough for the two-fifty that the burrito cost, then scanned it. He then waited expectantly again.

Narrowing her eyes, Tex took everything in her to not reach over the counter and pop the guy one for looking at her funny. 

After she turned her pockets inside out and nothing new came to the surface, Tex groaned and threw her head back, shoving the orange juice to the side of the counter. 

“You ever heard of giving people breaks on good faith?” she asked as he began counting back her change for the burrito alone. “Could I interest you in cutting breaks on _bad_ faith. As in the next time something happens around here, I can make sure it has nothing to do with your business?”

The man stared at her, squinting hard, before tilting his head to the side. “¿Me estás amenazando?” he asked her thickly.

“What?” Tex asked in a blink

The man continued to stare at her for a moment before leaning forward over the counter. “¿Qué tal esto , significa mujer?” he asked before nodding toward the window where Tex was parked. “Veo que tiene una motocicleta. ¿Le gustaría que le hagan el servicio en mi garaje? También soy un mecánico. Mi hermano gemelo tirón realmente ejecuta esta tienda de conveniencia.”

Tex stared at him blankly once more before scowling. “Do you honestly not speak English?”

He scowled back. “Su matrícula es de Texas. ¿Usted no habla español?”

“Forget _this_ bullshit,” she groaned before leaning in enough to glance at his name tag. “How about _this,_ Señor Lopez? I’m leaving with my burrito and you couldn’t _beg_ me to come back.”

“lástima que el hombre que iba a pedir que vuelvas. Punta,” he snapped back.

Waving her free hand at the man, Tex chomped away at her burrito. As she neared the door, she reached into her pocket for her sunglasses and began to shoulder the door open. 

It was just by chance that she happened to look up as she slid her glasses on and had just enough time to duck beneath the metallic thing flying at her head. 

“What the–” she uttered, flattening just before the thing could hit her. 

“Ugh, finally,” a metallic voice echoed from the machine. “I’ve been waiting for _minutes_ for someone to open the fucking door. Goddamn. The next one of these is going to have arms.”

In complete surprise, Tex turned around and chomped on her burrito again as she took a good look at the flying thing.

It was like a smooth, steel block with several lines and visible through the cracks inner workings that glowed a soft blue. The thing hovered up and down, turning, gazing around the convenience store before turning back enough to see Tex and the man at the counter with a single, giant blue eye. 

“Aha,” the device said, hovering closer to them. “Greetings, assholes.”

“¿Qué pasa con esta mañana?” the man at the register marveled. 

Tex’s mouth felt incredibly dry as she took another bite of her breakfast. 

“You all are probably frightened right now, which is good. You should be. I’m a terrifying example of above-modern grade technology!” the machine continued, bouncing up and down in the air with every word as if it was too excited to stand still. “Or, well. I’m not. My creator is. The guy talking is. I’m… Fuck. I have to do this all over again.” The eye contracted its central lens. “Nobody move!”

They watched as the floating machine turned around and bobbed toward the distant corner of the store near the slurpie machine and milk. There was a sound of a canny clearing of a throat, then the device flipped back around and flung itself toward them. The man at the counter flinched back. Tex judged how much was left of her burrito.

“I am _Alpha!”_ the canny voice said boomingly. “I am a hacker, a genius, a technological marvel, and you are looking at my newest courtesy device – a long distance droid from which I can alert you to the fact that I am currently robbing this store blind from any and all access points that are on your poor excuse for Wifi. And before you ask if I can do that, yeah, I can totally do that.”

“Eso suena falso,” Lopez informed the floating eye. “Y que suene como una plaga.”

“The only way to make me stop is to fill up my friend here,” the voice continued before the machine hovered lower toward them and revealed an opening on the top of it. “That’s me.” It floated back up over them. “With all the cash in your register–”

Without warning, surprising even Tex into blinking, the man came out from behind the register with a broom and began swatting at the machine in midair, smacking it toward the door. 

“No eres bienvenido aquí,” Lopez snapped as he tried brushing the machine right out of the convenience store. 

“Ow! Ow! Fuck– _Touch me again and I swear–”_ the voice grew increasingly high pitch before the blue glowing eye suddenly lit up red. “I said… _STOP IT!”_

With a roar, the eye blasted a heated laser, obliterating the brush end of the broom right in the man’s hands while he and Tex stared in awe at it.

“Okay, motherfuckers, if you want to do it the hard way, I _will fucking do it the hard way!”_ Alpha snarled, its eye still a hot red before it aimed toward the ceiling and blasted two ceiling tiles right out of place. “Give me the money in the cash register or I’ll blast it out myself.

Tex took one last bite of her burrito, tossed the wrapper aside, clapped her hands together and looked to the shocked Mexican standing on the other side of the flying machine. 

“Hey, Señor Lopez,” she called, getting his attention. “You throw in that orange juice? I’ll take care of your would-be robber.”

“Sí,” Lopez said, lifting up his hands and dropping the stick of what remained of his broom. “¡Que se joda hasta!”

The sentiment more than passed the language barrier and Tex smirked as she cracked her neck. 

Alpha’s eye returned to blue as it turned on her and refocused its lens carefully. The computer scoffed. “What? I’m supposed to be intimidated?” he asked haughtily as Lopez backed away from them carefully. “I’ve never fought a girl in my life.”

“Obviously you’ve always known who was going to win then,” Tex retorted as they began to circle each other. 

There was an almost eerie, synthesized laughter from the machine as it tilted upward. Almost like its speakers had never thought it’d need those particular sounds. “Oh, my god. That’s so cute. What the fuck are you going to–”

Before the machine could think to recover, Tex had slammed her knuckles right into the eye, hoping whoever was on the other end got the picture. 

In an instant, the device went from hovering to being cracked into the glass door of the freezer.

Lopez stood by in alarm. “¡Míralo!”

The lights on Alpha were flickering for a moment before coming back on. The device then managed to shake itself free of the glass. 

“What the–” It whirled around and then focused back on Tex. “How hard was that punch!? You shouldn’t be able to hit me out of orbit!”

Tex smirked, feeling particularly cocky in her shades and leather. “Let me put it this way, chrome dome,” she said as she walked toward him. “I can hit as hard as I need to. And I’m feeling an itch to punch you pretty goddamn hard–”

“Try it!” Alpha spat before his red eye appeared and blasted, giving Tex seconds to dodge and let one of the flimsy convenience aisles get blasted instead. 

Panicked by the destruction as Alpha kept blasting, Lopez threw up his arms and shouted too fast for either of the fighters to catch. Not that they had ever been paying much heed to the cashier. 

After a few more ducks, Tex counted down the seconds between the red glow and the device’s blasting time. 

Ducking beneath the donut stand, Tex let Alpha blast the pastries to bits before making her move during the recharge. 

With a lunge, she threw herself at the machine grabbed it from the air and without a moment’s hesitation punted it through the window with all her might, smirking proudly as she saw pieces flying off throughout the machine’s arc. 

After watching for a moment, Tex nodded to herself and walked to the counter. On the way she nearly brushed shoulders with Lopez, who was staring with his mouth agape at the hole in the store window. 

Grabbing her orange juice and popping off the lid, Tex took a refreshing drink and sighed. She was in a _much_ better mood after not being parched anymore. 

“Thanks, Señor Lopez,” Tex said as she nodded to him. “Just tell the police it was a super villain.”

He stared at her the entire time she walked out the door, which might have been bothersome to anyone other than Tex. But for her, it was hardly a blip, her concentration was far more on getting on her bike and following the trail of debris left by her new friend Alpha. 

She had been working the streets for a few weeks already, but even with the Freelancers making breaking headlines nearly every day on the other side of the same city, she hadn’t really seen much in the way of action beyond petty crime. 

Which was fine and fun. But there was a _thirst_ in her for some truly challenging hero action. Like a super villain of the week.

Alpha didn’t seem all _that_ super but she was willing to give him a chance to amuse her for a few hours. 

Or, at least, it was _meant_ to be amusement until she rode up to where the junk led and found that the main machine was not there. 

She glanced toward the skies and managed to see a gleam of light from the hovering device before it disappeared over the rooftops at a speed she didn’t quite see herself following. 

“Alright, fine,” she said, bending over enough to grab one of the larger pieces of scrap – one of the parts she had seen glowing blue before, some sort of durable plastic with visible circuits running throughout it. “This Alpha guy makes some durable machines. I can give him that much.”

Tex smirked, feeling a bit rejuvenated at the prospect of having an archnemesis. An _actual_ villain to do battle with. 

“So long as I can punch it, I hope he still builds it,” she said decidedly.


	3. Age of Alpha

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So far keeping strong on the weekly update! woo! Also I could write Alpha and Tex literally all day. This is basically an exercise in me just rolling around in the joy of writing these two and this universe in large gusts lol But you may notice this story is moving at a lot faster pace than the original Hero Time and that will be for a very good reason. As a prequel we’re going to be setting up a lot of stuff and covering a lot of ground. And you may have noticed that there was a lot of history among these characters before Hero Time ever got started so I’m going to be doing my best to serve that.
> 
> Special thanks to @ashleystlawrence, @100wordsummaries, @secretlystephaniebrown, @allabtnothin, @thepheonixqueen, @analiarvb, Zambo, nota7, Yin, Beawolfs_Pen, staininspace, @littlefists, and @calxiyn on tumblr and AO3 for the feedback!

Subtlety was neither her specialty nor was it Alpha’s. And in that way, the weeks of cat and mouse that followed between them were almost kind of beautiful. 

“The new one still doesn’t have arms!” Tex yelled in jest as she dove over the counter and evaded another blast from Alpha’s floating eye-bot. “You promised.”

The floating robot didn’t take any notice as what was left of the pastry shop patrons fled en masse. His attention was rarely on the task at hand these days.

It almost made Tex wonder if he was enjoying their clashes as much as she was. After all, it made little sense for the self-proclaimed Techno-Marvel to appear at a pastry shop with the small amount of reward for his troubles.

Even if the cost of bagels were _ridiculous_ there.

“Hey, I promised you _a_ future model that you could Rock’em Sock’em with. Not _the_ next model,” Alpha’s canny voice retorted over the robot’s speaker. “Give me a break. Parts cost money, and _someone_ keeps ruining my otherwise lucrative plans for income.”

She couldn’t stop the grin that etched itself across her face at that. “Yeah, I feel _real_ sorry for your lot in life, Alpha. Really. It kills me on the inside to know a villain with such potential could be made such a whiny little bitch by someone who’s only powers are – what did you say it was again? ‘ _Punch real good.’”_

The Alpha-bot paused and tilted in the air. If possible for an inanimate object it seemed comically distressed by the quote. “That was like what? _Three_ robberies ago! Are you still hung up on that? Shit. I’ll come up with a better insult you can fixate on. I’d hate for my archnemesis to have to focus our relationship on subpar material.”

“I trust you,” Tex mocked. “You’re nothing if not mouthy.”

“Ha, well, it’s part of having a big brain, I guess,” Alpha bragged. If bragging were a sport, Tex swore Alpha would have easily lettered in it.

“Psst! _Psst!”_

Blinking in surprise, Tex turned from looking around the counter to looking face to face with some employee – a heavy set guy with aa desperate need for a shave and a well practiced scowl. 

“What?” Tex demanded, far more irritated than she was in her banter with Alpha.

“Are you supposed to be a hero or something?” he asked critically as he pushed his visor up over his hairline. 

Tex glared at the man for a moment before waving to the rose and star emblem on her chest then to her mask. “Does it need to be labeled on me somewhere for me to stop getting that question?” she snapped back.

“If you don’t stop destroying as much shit as the floating eight ball? Yeah. Probably!” he griped. 

Narrowing her eyes, Tex turned back toward Alpha and took a breath. In a blink, she allowed herself to fade into invisibility and slowly sneaked toward the center of the store. 

Alpha continued on without a clue as to what was going to happen next.

“I could always insult your emo fashion sense!” he called out. “No? How about the fact you don’t seem to care about actually finding the real me? I mean, how dumb. It’s almost like you want me to come back for another fight. What’s up with that? I _would_ insult your hair but I actually really like your haircut, so…”

Now standing behind where the Alpha-bot was facing, Tex cracked her knuckles. “It was just a trim. Did you actually notice?”

“Fuck yeah I did! I know ladies suck that shit up,” Alpha replied, bot bouncing in the air with every word. He then paused as he realized where the voice was coming from. Instead of turning around, he gave a defeated sigh. “Damn it–”

Turning visible, Tex grabbed Alpha’s bot and sent it hurdling into the ground at full force. The sound of its lens cracking was brutal.

“There. You got your wish. _Not_ a punch. Congrats!” Tex said, a bit of the joy sucked out of her banter. She glanced back toward the counter. “ _You_ happy now, unsatisfied citizen?” 

Her smart ass comment trailed off as she watched the shop employee in pure bewilderment. 

The man who had been content to hide behind the counter before was standing up, hackling and choking on said hacks, as he tore through the cash register door and stuffed his apron with the money inside. 

At a loss, Tex tilted her head. “You don’t have to give the money drawer to Alpha, Sir. I got it. It’s handled.”

“Is it, you fool!? Wahahaha wahahaha!” the employee said, voice deeper and more unhinged.

When the cash drawer was empty, the man then turned to the pastry display and began stuffing his face as well, the evil laughter continuing between chomps.

Tex’s shoulders dropped as she watched the moment carry on. She only looked away when Alpha’s eye-bot shakily rose from the ground, bits of glass falling as it did so. 

“What the fuck,” Alpha spoke as his lens focused weakly on the sight. “Hey! What’re you doing!?”

“Eating my weight in wonderful, delicious _evil!”_ the employee chuckled. 

“Well, stop it!” Alpha snapped. “You can’t be evil on _my_ turf! Fucking asshole! Can’t you see I”m busy arching my heroic foil here?”

Folding her arms, Tex laughed. “I am _far_ better than your foil, bub.”

“ _So_ good you’re letting this no-grade asshole get away?” Alpha asked with a nod to the counter.

Looking back quickly, Tex swore as she saw Alpha was right. The employee was making a break for the back and she had just seconds to give chase.

“Get back here!” she growled. “You don’t get to steal shit on _my_ watch!”

“Yeah, good! You chase and I’ll cut them off in the alley!” Alpha yelled, taking off to the front door. 

“I don’t need help!” Tex snapped over her shoulder before bursting out the back door. 

Her sights closed in on the already slowed thief. He was stumbling and gasping as he came to a stop. 

“This body’s… like… breathing through… a garbage can!”  he wheezed.

Which didn’t stop Tex from tackling the man to the cement and sitting on top of hi. Her fist pulled back in warning. “Don’t move!” she growled. “You’ve seen me punch a metal bowling ball. Do you _really_ want to see what I can do with your face?”

“I’m here! No one villainizes these streets but me!” Alpha’s canny voice carried as the robot approached. “Oh, hey! You’ve got it already. Cool.”

Glaring back at him, Tex shook her head. “Alpha, take a hike! I’m done with your part.”

“My _part?”_ Alpha spat out, absolutely offended. “Tex, I am _every_ part! I’m king of this jungle! This is Alpha’s reign! The _Age_ of Alpha! On these two square blocks anyway.”

Snorting, Tex shook her head. “Oh, shut up,” she ordered. 

“Say, Tex,” the still-off voice of the employee beckoned. “Bet you can’t tell me what color my eyes are! Wahahaha!” 

“Okay, _you_ shut up, too,” Tex growled as she looked back at the employee. “The last thing I need is two nonsense criminals having a dick waving contest–” she began just before looking to the man’s face.

There were black holes where the orbs of his eyes should have been. Tex felt herself fall into the blackness of them – get swallowed up when – 

She was numb for a blink, an instant. Everything was black and dark and she couldn’t even think in the fuzziness of it all.

Then she blinked again. There was a man in the distance, scrawny looking and insignificant but he had a grocery bag full of dollar bills. Suddenly there was a blast of red hot light evaporating against her chest, sending her flying into the brick wall of the alley.

“AGH! Son of a bitch!” she roared, barely catching herself on her hands and knees. 

“Oh, fuck! Good! He’s gone!” Alpha’s voice carried as the floating bot came to her side. 

It was only for an instant but Tex did not miss the way Alpha’s eye had a faint red glow around it as it first approached. 

“Hey, Tex! Are you alright? I mean… of course you are. You’re _you._ But like, no more take over the world speeches, right?”

Gritting her teeth, Tex pushed up to her feet. Her glare settled on Alpha which made the bot recoil.

“Oh. Uh. Not happy?”

“Did you fucking _blast_ me, Alpha?” she demanded angrily.

He backed up a few feet in one go. “Okay. So. This? It looks bad. I get that. _But_ you were talking crazy and going all wahahaha – that dude totally took over your head! You have to believe me!”

Tex hummed. “That makes perfect sense actually. I believe you,” she replied crisply.

“You do!? Oh, sweet!” Alpha cheered as he swung in close again. “That’s great, ‘cuz–”

Tex punched the bot with everything in her and watched with satisfaction as it cracked, flew into the nearby dumpster, and landed inside with a thud. 

The hero then straightened up, glancing to the end of the alley where the employee from earlier was on his knees groaning as he held his head. 

Stalking over, Tex grabbed the man by the collar and held him up, fist back in warning.

“Holy shit, not my face!” the guy cried out and held up his hands defensively. 

“Can you use mind control?” she demanded. 

“What? Fuck no!” the man spat back. “I’m just the cashier.”

“Ha, not anymore,” Tex informed him as she nodded to the pastry shop. “For some reason you took the drawer and ran. And I’m pretty sure it’s all over the security cameras.”

The man looked positively floored. “What!? I’ll be fired!”

Tex scowled. “It really _wasn’t_ you,” she grunted, lowering the man to his feet. “Damn, I’m back at square one. Unless…”

“You!?” the man cried out. “What about me!? I have a sister to take care of! How will I get a job after this!?”

“Just tell the police it was a super villain,” Tex easily hand waved as she looked dead ahead down the alley. 

Alpha’s blast had thrown her back a bit, but she still was close enough to the turn of the alley that she could hear the snickering of _mwahahaha_ as she came closer. Her teeth gnashed as she came up and grabbed the pile of heavy debris in the alley and revealed the dweeby man she had remembered with the bag of money. 

He looked up, aghast. “Oh… hello,” he said lowly. “Well… I suppose I should have used that distraction to run–”

“Yup!” Tex snapped before bringing the stuff crashing down on the man. She peaked to make sure he was unconscious and then tossed it aside, dragging him further into the alley before looking to the employee. 

The man was blinking at her in confusion. 

“Call the police,” she instructed, pointing a thumb heavily toward the unconscious man. “Put the money back in the cash drawer. Tell them he’s a super villain with the ability to control minds.”

“Does he have a name or something?” the guy asked. “Don’t these fuckers always have fancy names?”

“I don’t care,” Tex huffed, walking back to the dumpster. “Tell them that I’m handing them evidence for the fantastic _Dud Duo_ of Alpha and Omega–” She opened the dumpster and blinked in surprise to find a burning hole right through the bottom. “Son of a–”

Tex looked around before dropping down to the pavement and seeing the hole carried on through the pavement as well. 

Surprised, she felt her chest where her clothes weren’t even singed from the earlier blast. 

“Why wouldn’t he have just killed me?” she asked, baffled. 

“Oh my god, I’m going to get fired,” the employee continued to groan, running a hand through his hair. 

“You’ll be _fine!”_ Tex snapped before looking back. “At least you still have Omega. Turn him in.”

As she brushed past him, Tex paused. “But you might have to explain eating the entire shelf of pastries,” she warned.

“Yeah, that’s _why_ I’ll get fired,” the man groaned. “I wasn’t supposed to do that _again.”_

Tex blinked. “I can’t help you citizen,” she informed him and then took off. 


	4. What's So Funny About the Blood Gulch Way?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little ahead of schedule, but I think you guys won’t mind that too much! Once again I’m just so happy and grateful for all of you guys who are sticking with me through this story! I was really worried that following Hero Time with a prequel rather than the direct sequel wouldn’t please most people even if it’ll be apparent how necessary the move was later, but it’s just so overwhelming and awesome to be surprised by the turn out so far. And gosh do I just love writing Alpha Church and Tex so much, so this has been an utter delight for me personally. They were so bad for stealing the show in the original story and letting them loose on their own tale has been so much fun. 
> 
> Of course, as you’ll all probably notice, this chapter carries some similarities to canon (at least as revealed in the guide book) that I hope I did an original enough spin on that it’s still enjoyable for everyone!
> 
> Special thanks to @secretlystephaniebrown, @allabtnothin, @churchtexas, @i-will-batman-you, @ashleystlawrence, @analiarvb, Odds_Evens, Yin, and @notatroll7 on tumblr and AO3 for the feedback!

The gym was a real crap shoot. The kind of thing kept alive more out of novelty than any sort of relevance to the community, but Tex found herself respecting it more than anything else on her return to Blood Gulch. 

It wasn’t out of any obligation to her old man, forget _that_ noise – but it was something. 

When she went to it, she was nodded to and accepted as if she belonged there as much as any of their outdated equipment. Even if no one recognized a thing about her. 

Why would they? It’d been over a decade since she had been through those doors. 

All the same, she liked the gym. And when it was closed, as easy as it might’ve been to slip in and train on her own, really let loose without anyone around to see her at her full potential, she didn’t do it. 

She _did_ use their showers. But that was just a courtesy to anyone she happened to run into on the streets during the day. People tended to not take too kindly to smelly superheroes.

Showered, hours from her night patrol, and starving, Tex decided to walk around for a sign of somewhere to be. 

Her cash supply was next to nothing, dust clinging more to the insides of her jacket rather than pocket change. And part of that was the simple fact that her _Hero Tax_ didn’t amount to much when she was spending most of her nights tirelessly searching for the source of Alpha. 

Whoever the hell he was.

As much as it pained her, he had been right in their last encounter. She _hadn’t_ put much time or effort into solving the mystery that was her Mad Scientist archnemesis. And that was something that she couldn’t let stand any longer.

It was making her look bad. And Tex had no damns to give about her reputation, but she absolutely would not be thought of as _not the best._

Her street wanderings brought her across a few places, mostly restaurants she was fairly certain she had either arrested someone at or knew for a fact she couldn’t afford, when she started getting to a less familiar side of town. 

By the old park, the buildings opened up for a block or two to a surprising upkeep in presentation with newer buildings and a small patch of courtyard where the grass had probably once been green. 

If she remembered correctly it was the community college campus that the city had sunk some millions into a few years after Tex had left to make it look like they were actually doing something with Blood Gulch.

Joke was on the city, since Blood Gulch had since then made no effort to look like they were actually doing something for themselves. 

But college meant college food and if there was one thing even her meager budget could withstand, it was probably college food. 

If she had thought too much about it, Tex might’ve found the ease at which she blended in with the scene unsettling. Perhaps would have considered what she was doing with her own life, scrounging by during the day and pounding the lights out of the criminal element during the night, while those who could have been her peers were pretending to pay attention in class, asking questions about where to go next with their lives.

Tex, however, could not have been happier. 

Especially after being pointed in the direction of the cafeteria. 

She was careful about how much she put on her tray, concentrated a lot on the protein and the breads, had to make sure her calories were kept up. 

By the time she reached the end she was confident that her five bucks would be enough and that her food would _also_ be enough for the day, and she could have gone back to avoiding human contact for as long as possible.

Until she was checking out.

“That’s not kosher,” the cashier informed her boredly as he rang her up.

Tex looked up over her glasses and stared at the man leaning in on his hand, distractedly looking at the register as he punched in her items. He had long dreads tied back behind his black visor. 

He looked like maybe the most punchable person she had ever seen.

And Tex knew a thing or two about people who deserved a punch.

“Do I look like I care if it’s kosher?” she asked seriously.

“Do _I?”_ the man asked. He turned in his chair enough to finally look at Tex and waved at himself. “No, seriously? Do I look like I care? I need to know because it’ll help me settle an ongoing debate.”

Tex narrowed her eyes slightly, tilted her head, and gave the man another look over. “I… don’t know. You just look like the regular kind of asshole. Do regular kind of assholes care about kosher?”

“Thank you,” he responded before leaning back, looking toward the other end of the cafeteria before shouting, “Hey, douchecanoe! Just for your information, the biker chick with the amazing ass says no one gives a flying fuck about whether or not their food is kosher!”

“Hey, Tucker! How about you fucking shut your mouth in front of the goddamn customers!” another voice cried out from what sounded like the bathrooms. 

None of that mattered, though, because Tex was gritting her teeth at the comment more directed her way. 

“Hey, buddy! Who the fuck gave you permission to assess my ass?” she demanded.

The guy – Tucker – sat back more properly on his chair and looked somewhat bewildered at Tex. “I haven’t even seen it yet, lady. Calm down. I just know fine when I see it. And I see F-I-N-E written _all_ over ya.”

The blatant stupidity of the comment took a moment to wash over her before Tex was able to fully lean forward and look at Tucker as she cracked her knuckles. “You wanna try that line again?”

“Dude, trying lines in the mirror is all I do every morning!” he declared. “That reminds me! If you were a Transformer, you’d be Optimus _Fine–”_

 _“That’s it!”_ Tex snarled before bringing her fist back.

What she couldn’t have expected was for someone to grab her elbow from behind, immediately sending chills down her spine. She hadn’t even heard anyone coming. 

“Now, now,” a soothing voice said, even as Tex yanked herself away. “There’s no need for this misunderstanding to turn hostile,” an older man, though maybe by only a few years or so, said to them. He wore a smile that gave Tex another set of chills. “At least not within my cafeteria! Now, Lavernius, I _do_ believe you were an instigator this time around.”

“What? I only just met her!” Tucker called out. “She’s not even seen my John Thomas.”

“Wait, _what?”_ Tex hissed at him.

“I know, I’m surprised that you would be the troublemaker this time around,” the man said, a hand on his chin. “Usually I expect such behavior from your partner in crime.”

Tex crossed her arms. She highly doubted any _crimes_ committed around this place were worthy of someone like her. 

She had such a low tolerance for idiocy to begin with.

“He kinda did, though,” Tucker defended. “He’s doing that thing again where he wants me to ask everyone if they share his personality quirks.”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake, Tucker, it’s not a personality quirk,” a strictly annoyed voice carried toward them. 

Tex glanced toward the source of the noise and saw another employee, dressed same as the cashier but, if possible, managing the scraggly look even moreso. 

He was _definitely_ punchable. 

“Can I just have my food?” Tex demanded, having had more than her share by that point of the general nonsense. 

“Depends, are you paying?” Tucker asked. “It’s five-oh-one.”

Caught off guard, Tex looked back at him. “Where did the one come from?”

“I don’t know. Tax?” Tucker shrugged.

“A _one cent tax?”_ she demanded. 

“Welcome to America. What do you want from me?” he demanded. 

“I have five,” she informed him, holding up the bill.

“Okay, but that’s not what I wanted,” Tucker responded. “I can give you advice on what to _do_ if you don’t want to pay that one cent.”

“Tucker,” the older man said in warning. 

“Right. Sorry, Mister Flowers,” Tucker sighed. He then tilted his head and grinned as wide as he could. “Just… _smile.”_

Tex stared at them both with absolutely _no_ intent on smiling. 

“You see why I keep getting put on cleaning duty,” the third customer muttered her way. Tex glanced at him and he, too, seemed to have no intent on smiling any time soon. 

Which must have been enough to get Tex to smirk because the next thing she knew the five was being pulled from her hands and there was a _ding_ from the cash register.

She looked back, scowling at the sight before grunting and grabbing up her things. 

Though the cafeteria was almost completely barren, the closing hour almost at hand, Tex made a point to situate herself as far in the back as she could and spread everything off her tray across the entire table. 

Which was a decent move since not that much later a group of about four dudes all grabbed trays of their own and began loudly moving around the cafeteria. 

After whatever interruption Tex caused the regular routine earlier, the employees had gone back to where they had been before. The cashier, Tucker, looked bored out of his skull as he rang people up. The weird smile guy was out of sight. And the third was moping over in Tex’s area.

He was giving her a cautious glance from time to time. 

Tex found the behavior suspicious. 

“What?” she demanded finally.

“Nothing,” he shrugged. “You look like someone I know. But not really. She’s way less of a bitch.”

Despite herself, Tex snorted into her sandwich. “Just wait until you try to hold a conversation with her, she’ll probably show her true colors.”

“Yeah?” he asked back, leaning on his mop some as he looked more toward her. “How do you know that about her?”

“I don’t,” Tex answered, putting her sandwich down and ignoring the rough housing of the other customers in her peripheral vision. Her full concentration was on the cafeteria worker. “I just have a good inkling that you have that kind of personality that brings it out in every girl.”

“Ah. Well I get the distinct impression that you’re bad for projecting personal problems,” he said, scratching at his stubble covered chin. “Would _you_ happen to bring out the worst in people–”

His banter was cut off short when one of the thick skulled customers pushed another right into the employee’s back. 

Having apparently the muscle mass of a toothpick, the employee crumbled at the surprise hit and went right for the tile. His one saving grace was the hold he had on his mop which managed to fling up and smack the customer square in the face on both of their ways down. 

Amused, Tex took another bite of her sandwich. 

“God fucking _damn it!”_ the employee growled as he sat up and rubbed at his back. “Do you mind watching where you’re going, you ape?”

The jokesters went quiet as the tank of a human who had ran into the employee to begin with got to his feet and glared down at him. “What did you just say to me?”

“Oh, great, you’re deaf, too,” he snapped, getting to his feet. 

From the background, Tucker was smacking his forehead loudly. 

“I _said_ watch where you’re going, _you ape!”_ the spunky mopper said with twist to his lips. 

“That’s not very nice,” the goon warned, stepping closer. “Sure you don’t wanna take any of it back?”

“Hm,” the man replied before shrugging. “You’re right. It’s not very fair to the apes–”

The pop from the guy’s fist connecting with the man’s face was loud enough even Tex thought she could feel it. 

Her sandwich also happened to be completely gone, which made it easier when she climbed over the table, smoothly caught the employee on his arc down, swung around on her pivot foot once, and used her free arm to lay the attacker out in one hit. 

The man went soaring back, crashing on one of the tables between his friends and breaking it. Cheap plastic. 

The others stared at their friend then back at Tex. 

“It’s closing time,” she said with a devious grin toward the goons. 

They stared at her like she was some sort of unpronounced demon before taking off toward the exit, some nearly stepping over their unconscious friend. 

Tucker was literally standing on his chair, wide-eyed and grinning. “Holy shit! That was awesome!”

Tex smirked before looking casually down to the man in her arm, nose bloodied and slightly dazed. But he looked at her with complete awe. 

“I can _definitely_ see why they keep you on cleaning duty,” she answered his long forgotten comment. She slowly pulled him toward her table and sat him up on the booth seat. “So just what kind of name follows you, troublemaker?”

“Thchhurchhhtt,” he answered thickly, accepting the napkins she pushed his way as soon as they were in his line of sight.

“Church?” she laughed. “What kind of name is _that?”_

“Thewish,” he responded without any sense of sarcasm to his tone. Though, it _was_ rather difficult to decipher with his nose in its state and blood gushing over his face. “Holy schhitth.”

“Oh, it’s not that bad,” Tex shrugged. “Give it a minute and I’ll pop it back in place. You won’t even notice.”

He looked at her suspiciously as he shoved more napkins over his face. “Who arthh ‘ _ou?”_

Tex blinked. 

It took a moment for her to realize it, but it was the first time she had been asked that in all the months she had been back in Blood Gulch. But, then again, she hadn’t really held a conversation in all the months she had been back in Blood Gulch. 

Save with Alpha. If _those_ counted as conversations.

Arching a brow, Church tilted his head at her. “Umm… Yeartthh do th’scary thlathy?”

“Allison,” she answered him finally. 

“Thhhanksth, Allithon,” Church said, offering a bloody hand.

Snorting at it, Tex took it and shook back. “You know how you could _really_ thank me?” she asked, watching as he tilted his head again questionably. “Got an employee discount?”

He smirked at her. 


	5. The Circle

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright so I didn’t think I’d get another update in less than a week but then I kinda sprained my ankle so got to stay home for the day rather than go to the park like I originally planned. Not that the weather was on my side anyway. Regardless! Sorry for how fast all the updates have been lately, I know that’s not giving everyone a whole lot of time to read through the updates as they come out but I’m just having so much fun with this story! It’s too fun not to work on it!
> 
> Special thanks to @i-will-batman-you, @analiarvb, @allabtnothin, @secretlystephaniebrown, @thepheonixqueen, legitishred, Zambo, Yin, @notatroll7, Lucyjane333, @spooky-circuits, MeltMyHeart2Stone, @ashleystlawrence, @generalmeowmeow3, @analia-the-1st, and @washingtonstub on tumblr and AO3 for the feedback!

There was no getting back the time she wasted in the community college cafeteria. 

No matter her intentions on when to leave, Tex found herself staying in for hours.Because no matter the meal time, Church and usually also Tucker were there. 

Great for Tex’s always tested appetite, as Church never wasted an opportunity to try and use his employee discount on a few meals for her. _Terrible_ for Tex’s search for Alpha, however, as she had more fun with the two losers than she ever had in the gym.

“Talked to your girl in a while?” Tex asked Church with an eased familiarity. She stood with Church’s back to her chest, using her hands to pull and tug on his elbows to get him better positioned. “God, you’re _still_ too tense.”

“I _know_ you’re going to flip me again at any second, Allison!” Church yelled back.

“Tensing won’t stop that,” Tex mocked easily. “If anything, it makes my job easier when I _decide_ to flip you.”

“Pfft, whatever,” Church said back, untrusting. “And _no,_ I’ve not seen her lately. I’ve not been… looking for her.”

Raising a brow at Church for the admission, Tex stood back enough that he could turn and see her suspicious look. “Am I teaching a stalker how to defend himself from the girl he’s been trailing?” she asked.

A few feet away, Tucker snorted as he lazily ran the push broom between the tables. “I’ve been making that joke since the first move you taught him.” He paused his brush strokes as if he had just had an epiphany and looked to Church and Tex. 

Tex prepared herself to resist tossing Church at Tucker’s head the moment stupidity left Tucker’s mouth.

“I mean, if you _really_ want some new moves, _I_ could teach ya,” Tucker offered before jutting his hips forward. “Bow chicka bow wow!”

Despite her mental preparation, Tex tightened her grip and began to shift her hand position on Church’s arms.

Church apparently understood the pattern and began uselessly struggling against the hold. “Hey Hey Hey!” he shouted. “Don’t you dare!”

Thinking better of using Church’s already broken face as a battering ram, Tex instead just looked at Tucker knowingly. “And why are _you_ on cleaning duty today?”

Tucker pouted and threw out an aggravated groan. “She was totally hot! I thought she’d take it well!” 

“You’re so good at predicting people’s character,” Tex snarked. 

“I _am,_ though!” Tucker defended. “Her _girlfriend’s_ the one who reported me to Flowers.”

Rolling her eyes, Tex shook her head. “God, the two of you are a _real_ piece of work, you know that?” 

“Hey!” Church shouted out, looking honestly offended. “Don’t lump me together with him.”

“Yeah, Church would _way_ rather stalk and annoy _one_ chick instead of any of the thousands available fish in the sea. Don’t mischaracterize him, Allison,” Tucker joked.

Being called Allison remained off putting still. She had thought that she’d eventually grow accustomed to hearing it but she still felt a flinch. 

She could feel Church relax under her grip, finally either distracted or trusting Text to not flip him into the ground again. Which mean, of course, that she immediately flipped Church onto his chest, pinning him to the ground. 

“F-fucking hell!” Church gargled out as if he was being crushed. 

“You’re _still_ not sturdy enough on your feet,” Tex warned. “I can only do so much, Church. You’re going to have to start going to the gym or something.”

Tucker was laughing so hard he had to put his hands on his knees. “Oh my god. Please _don’t,_ Church. This is literally the best part of my day!”

“Nope, I’m officially ordering you to work out more so I’m not beating you up _every_ day,” Tex declared, easing up and helping Church to his feet. “With your dorky-ass nerd clothes on all the time I feel like a fifth grade bully.” She paused and shrugged. “Y’know. _Again.”_

Looking down to his Disney sweater, Church shook his head. “What? This isn’t dorky!”

Genuinely baffled, Tex furrowed her brows.

For his part, Tucker kept up the laughter. He was even wiping tears from his face. “Oh my god. Give that one up, dude. You officially lost the minute you thought it was smart to open your mouth!”

“Oh _whatever,”_ Church huffed. “Seriously, fuck you guys. Disney is _badass!_ You know why?” 

“Oh, I’m sure you won’t pass up the opportunity to inform us,” Tex mocked.

“Because _no one_ makes villains as good as Disney does,” Church continued, undeterred. “Disney villains are fun, badass, scary as hell, and they always have the _best_ songs in the whole movie.”

Tex tilted her head and squinted at him. “But they’re usually the least complex and interesting,” she countered. “Their entire purpose is to fuck shit up, get stopped, and make the hero look good by comparison.” She then motioned to Church. “And also, apparently, to sell ratty old sweaters to losers.”

“Tell him you want him out of that sweater so the sexual tension finally leaves the goddamn cafeteria,” Tucker called out too boldly for Tex’s tastes.

She grabbed the nearest napkin dispenser and chucked it at Tucker’s head. It got her a scream even if it didn’t make contact.

“Yeah, but Disney villains always end up winning philosophically by the end,” Church continued arguing. 

Confused, Tex looked back at Church. “What bullshit are you going on about?” 

“It’s true,” Church smirked. “They usually die or are punished, but only by corrupting whatever morals the heroes had at the beginning. Either the heroes commit murder or have to otherwise allow death or something karmically terrible to happen to another person. Thereby proving they cannot value real forgiveness or the merits of _all_ human life. And ergo the villain was right all along.”

In the silence that followed, Church had the gall to look pretty proud of himself for the analysis. While Tex and Tucker looked at each other equally bewildered. 

“What blogging platform bore you, Church?” Tex asked. “I’m putting my money on 4chan.”

“Oh, shut up,” Church snapped. “You’re just being sassy because you realize deep down just how right I am.”

“Literally not even close,” Tucker replied. 

“It’s the truth! Think of every superhero you’ve seen in real life! They act _so_ much better than super villains but cause _just_ as much damage, care _just_ as little about the civilians who have their lives affected. They just get thanked in the end,” Church ranted. “And _that’s_ the truth! Don’t believe me, just turn the TV to a news channel right now. I _guarantee_ Freelancers are somewhere in the city right now fucking up just as much shit as they’re trying to save.” 

Shaking her head, Tex put her hands on her hips. “You’re a strange, delusional man, Leonard Church,” she decided. 

He grinned and pointed to the TV. “Test it! I dare you guys to prove me wrong!”

With a determined look on his face, Tucker moved to the cash register’s counter for the remote. 

Tex merely crashed her arms. “Winnie the Pooh,” she said firmly.

Church scowled. Tex could almost _see_ the way Church’s head was churning to turn the Hundred Acre Woods to work for his dark purposes. 

"Hey, Church! No shitty superheroes yet! Just shittier super villains!” Tucker yelled from in front of the television. 

Both Tex and Church crowded around Tucker’s sides, getting a good look at the breaking news. 

The thrill of a big story happening nearby caught up with Tex despite herself. Omega – her aptly named former nemesis – had escaped. And police believed it was his influence connected in some way to the break in gang violence seen across Blood Gulch. In a sick, twisted way Tex could not help but feel like she had somehow made a Big Score.

“He got out?” Church hissed.

“I’ve got to run,” Tex spoke over Church. She grabbed her jacket from the back of her chair and headed to the exit. “Seriously, though, Church, start working out some more.”

Right by the door, Tex looked over her shoulder. She expected Church’s usual smartass replies, but instead only got Tucker standing by himself. 

Tex blinked before snapping at Tucker, “Hey! Where’d the nerd go?” 

“Who, Church?” Tucker asked before looking around. “What? _Ugh!_ Damn it! Not this shit again!” He looked to Tex. “I don’t know. But if you see him before I do, _please_ kick his ass for abandoning shift again!” 

Hesitating for a moment, Tex _knew_ she could feel something off about the information, but what precisely it was she couldn’t quite spend the time deciphering. She _had_ to get to the current violence and fun in Blood Gulch.

Making no promises, Tex took off and made her way into the alley where she always hid her bike and, on it, the full dress of her embraced vigilante persona.

With a smirk on her lips, Tex rode toward the streets on the news coverage.

The joy and excitement of Chorus in her midst was intoxicating. The grunt work of being a vigilante – the investigating, the hunting down Alpha, the _waiting_ – had been so overbearing on the last few weeks that Tex really _had_ enjoyed messing around with Church and Tucker over her usual activities. 

The thought would have been almost depressing had she not been able to roll up on the scene of sirens blaring and mass confusion. 

Tex breathed in the air excitedly just before her vision was completely obscured by a giant, floating eye-bot. 

“There you are!” Alpha’s voice cried out. “About fucking time!” 

Narrowing her eyes, Tex drew her fist back. She didn’t have time for Alpha’s shit, and the fact that he popped up the _second_ she wasn’t looking for him anywhere was such an annoyance that she could barely think straight about it. 

But, having learned _something_ over the last few encounters, Alpha drew back. 

“Ah ah ah!” he cried out. “Now hold up. I _just_ built the new guy. I don’t have time for you to bust the socket out of this one. Alright? So hold off!”

“How about I break _this_ one, too, and then get back to actually entertaining action going on in the city right now? How about _that,_ Alpha?” Tex snapped, keeping her fist back.

“What? _This_ bullshit?” Alpha asked, bobbing slightly as if to nod toward the sirens. “Nah, don’t waste your time on that. I already canvased and everything. This is bigger than our buddy Omega.”

Tex stared at him, lowering her fist. “What do you mean?”

“It’s a waste of time,” he said dismissively. “You can bust a few heads in there but it’s not gonna get you anywhere.”

Rolling her eyes, Tex moved forward, knocking her shoulder against Alpha’s bot as she did so. “Sounds good to me–”

“Oh, you’ve gotta be–” Alpha sputtered before popping up in front of her again. “Yeah, okay. Hold on a damn second, Tex! You’re honestly going to just be one of the Gutter Sluggers? With _your_ brains and _your_ potential? You’re going to satisfy yourself with fighting rift raft?”

Scowling at her, Tex tilted her head. “Is that a _problem_  to you?” she asked.

“It is when you could be so much better!” Alpha groaned. “I thought you were just messing around with not finding me because, I don’t know, you thought I was a charming exception. Not because you didn’t try to actually _stop_ crimes!”

“Is that _not_ what putting people in jail is doing?” Tex demanded. 

The lens of the eye-bot rolled in its socket. “Bigger picture, Tex. Wouldn’t you like to punch a guy with a big, fat, punchable lip at the top of the food chain rather than the pathetic, scrawny morsels at the bottom?” 

Tex hummed and tipped her head back. “I could punch all of them.”

“You could,” Alpha agreed. “But probably would work better from top to bottom than bottom to top.”

“I could punch all these guys then _you,”_ she reminded him. 

“Alright, _fair,”_ Alpha sighed, aggravation growing. “But _think_ about what you could do, Tex! Y’know. With me. Because I’m really hoping to nail this sucker.”

Putting a hand on her hip, Tex stared at Alpha. “Enough so that you’re willing to work with a – what did you call it? – _Gutter Slugger?”_

 _“_ You’re no Gutter Slugger,” Alpha groaned. “That’s the point. Just let me help you take down crime in a _big_ way in this city. Just for _once!_ Then you can go back to chasing people on foot and smacking them around for stealing danishes.”

Tex hummed and nodded. “What do you need me to do then, oh, Big Brained One?” 

Alpha’s light brightened around his glowing bot body. “I need you… to go to the library with me.”

Almost immediately, Tex could tell she was going to hate this plan. 


	6. For Tomorrow

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woohoo! Friday update! It’s so funny how much I look forward to updating this story. I’m really enjoying the characters but honestly I’m just so surprised and flattered by the acceptance everybody has of the universe continuing. I would have never dreamed of a prequel to a fanfic being liked by people. So thank you all so very much for that! I hope you enjoy the chapter!
> 
> Special thanks to @secretlystephaniebrown, @ashleystlawrence, @thepheonixqueen, @the-anonymous-fangirl, @analiarvb, @washingtonstub, staininspace, @notatroll7, Zambo, and Yin on tumblr and AO3 for the feedback!

When Tex really thought about it, she hadn’t been in a public library in her entire life. In fact, she was _fairly_ certain that Blood Gulch didn’t have one. 

But there they were, staring at it. And not only did it exist, but it looked old and grimy. That pretty much assured Tex it was as much a fixture of part of the Blood Gulch landscape as the nasty motel on Bravo. 

“Just what the hell are we supposed to find at a library?” she demanded angrily as she parked her bike in the front. 

Unsurprisingly, there seemed to be no competition for parking at the library. 

“Generally the answer to that question would be _books,_ Oh Great and Mighty Hero,” Alpha’s canny voice snarked from behind her. “Also, fairly certain you were speeding back there. You could get a ticket like that.”

She turned and raised a brow at the floating eye-bot. 

“What are you, my mom?” she asked. “And you kept up just fine. Weren’t you breaking the speed limit for drones?”

Alpha snorted and spun around. “What the fuck do I care? I’m a super villain. I don’t give a fuck. I speed to make a point.” He focused on her once again. “ _You’re_ the one who’s supposed to be some kind of… I don’t know, role model? Hero? I’m confused about what your goal is, Tex.”

“Do heroes need goals?” she asked as she made her way to the stairs.

“I hear they don’t hurt,” Alpha bobbed as he floated alongside her. 

“I like the righteous feeling of justice when my knuckles make contact with the face of someone who _really_ deserves it,” she told him, stopping just outside the library doors. “It makes me feel alive.”

Tilting slightly, Alpha let out a canny hum. It didn’t sound right through the filter for his voice. “Honestly I don’t know if that’s heroic enough or not. I kind of have a hate boner for all things good, so I wouldn’t be the one to say one way or the other.”

“Then why are you critiquing what I do?” she snapped, waving back in the direction of the violence taking place elsewhere in Blood Gulch. “I shoulda just stayed and punched my way through the assholes back there.”

“Because! You’re _my_ archnemesis!” Alpha sputtered. “And that means you have to be, like, the _best ever_ to deserve such an honor.”

“Don’t flatter yourself,” she snapped. “I think I might make Omega my arch – he’s actually out and about causing chaos on the street. What’re you doing? I haven’t even _seen_ you in weeks!”

“I’ve… been busy,” Alpha huffed in return. “It doesn’t matter. What matters is that _you_ don’t want to just be a Gutter Slugger hero. You want to change the world. You want to be big. You want to make _a difference.”_

She glared at him, unable to mask that the revelation from Alpha was, honestly, rather disappointing. She had hoped that at least _super villains_ would understand the basic facts of what she was doing. 

“I don’t have any delusions of grandeur, Alpha,” she informed him as she pushed the doors open to the library. “I don’t believe a superhero can make that much of a difference. They just keep the balance of good and evil in check. You really think _one_ asshole in leather going around punching criminals is going to make a huge difference in a shithole like Blood Gulch?”

Alpha floated in after her. The bot turned to look at the newspaper stack plastered with pictures of heroic exploits on the other side of the city then back to Tex. 

“Well… yeah! I mean, I believe _my_ amazing contributions to this shithole matter enough on the evil side of things,” he explained. “Why not a super _hero_  mattering? Ying and yang and all that stuff.”

“Sure,” Tex replied dryly. 

They came up to the front desk where a wryly looking man was sitting, tugging at his too-big sweater vest and bowtie. If Tex wasn’t certain that the man was around their age, she would have sworn he was hiding in the library from his bullies rather than working it. 

He almost immediately began to sweat as he looked between Tex and Alpha. 

“Oh, um… Hello? I mean,” the man stopped himself, coughed into his fist and then looked back up with a wavering smile. “Welcome to the Blood Gulch Public Library. Is there any way I can interest you in a library card?” 

“No,” Alpha and Tex responded in unison.

The man flinched back at their words and seemed to draw back further into his chair. “Oh. Um. Well. You see. Um. What can I… If you don’t want a… Maybe I could do something… ha. Else for… you?”

Tex squinted at him. “Are you going to pass out on us? Because I don’t have the patience to deal with that right now.”

“Yeah, me neither,” Alpha said, bouncing in the air again. “Alright, Slim Jim–”

“Actually my name is Dick Sim–”

“I don’t give a fuck!” Alpha cried out, ending on an octave that even made Tex rub her ear. “Dude, just get moving on grabbing old subway terminal plans from the Blood Gulch Initiative back between nineteen-fifty and nineteen-sixty-two. They should be archived as public records.”

The librarian shifted uncomfortably. “I don’t’ know about that…”

“Public. Record, now go,” Alpha snapped. “Bring them to the computer lab, that’s where we’ll be.”

 Almost in fear, the librarian jumped to his feet and took off to do just that. 

Crossing her arms, Tex watched the guy run off before looking to where Alpha was hovering off to. With a grunt of aggravation, she followed suit. 

“You sure know your way around a library,” she observed with a raise of her eyebrow. 

“Mad genius, comes with the territory,” he responded dismissively before pausing just outside the computer room. “Also I used to spend all my time in here. So… I’m familiar.”

“You voluntarily spend your free time in a library no one goes to,” Tex snorted. “Wow, you almost sound like another dork I know.”

“Oh, yeah?” Alpha urged, turning around and tilting his robot eye. “He must be a genius if he can be compared to me.”

“I used the most accurate word for both of you,” Tex said thinly. “ _Dork._ Now tell me what we’re here for.”

“Have you noticed you’ve not had a lot going on lately outside of _moi?”_ Alpha asked as they finished walking into the lab. “Almost like crime on the streets has been down? Like you made a difference with your Gutter Slugging?”

“No,” Tex said in brutal honesty. “Like I said, I’m not looking to make a difference, Alpha. I know there’s always going to be crime, with or without me.”

“Then when’s the last time you stopped a mugging?” he asked. “When’s the last time you saw _any_ action on a patrol? Because you’re right, you _haven’t_ seen me in a few weeks. And I’m betting if I _was_ out I wasn’t going to see a whole lot of you.”

Tex set her jaw. She _hated_ when the smug asshole had a point. 

“I haven’t seen a lot, but crime _isn’t_ down,” she admitted.

“It’s almost like having a personal hero in Blood Gulch has changed the game for the lowlives beneath the planning and intent of yours truly’s level of evil,” Alpha continued.

“What? Below robbing a _gas station?”_ Tex mocked. 

“I’m setting up funds for my big plans! Fuck’s sake, you heroes are so impatient, you know that?” Alpha rolled his eye. “Point is, people who are happy with running dumpy little Blood Gulch with an iron fist rather than setting out for world domination and changing the socio-economic landscape aren’t playing around on the streets anymore.” 

“Subway plans,” Tex marveled before cocking her head. “You think that _I_ drove the criminal underworld _underground_?” 

"Nah, like you said, you don’t make a difference,” Alpha snarked just as the doors opened and the less-than-sure-footed librarian bumbled in, arms full of aged, rolled paper. 

“What are those?” Tex asked as the guy stumbled the rest of the way in and all but threw the papers onto the desk of computers. 

“The subway terminal plans from the Blood Gulch Initiative of nineteen-fifty-two,” Simmons answered as he caught his breath and straightened up his clothes. “I hadn’t even heard of this.”

“Me neither,” Tex responded before looking suspiciously at Alpha. “Are you like… some greasy basement dweller who’s super old and that’s why I’ve never seen the real you?”

“Way to play up to stereotypes,” Alpha snapped. “No. You don’t see me because I happen to value secret identities. Notice how, even though with my exuberant genius it would be all too easy, I’ve never unmasked you.” He tilted. “Well. Un-sunglasses-ed you. Point is it’d be _really_ simple. But I respect you.”

“And _that_ fact makes my skin crawl,” Tex joked. “But alright, mad genius, explain why we didn’t just google these. You _said_ they’re public record.”

“They’re public record from over _half a century ago,”_ Simmons piped up. “And they’re incomplete plans. It looks like while construction and blueprints were finished, the city stopped funding the subway shortly after.”

“Then why build it to begin with? That’d be millions of dollars even fifty years ago,” Tex huffed. 

“Basically it’s worth millions of dollars to get the voting support of the slums,” Alpha sneered. “Not so much worth it to go _through_ with the plans of making a terminal route to the part of the city where the jobs could be and therefore make it possible for Blood Gulch residents to actually get jobs anywhere in the city thanks to public transportation.” He let out a bitter laugh. “Politics. Aren’t they a bitch? When I run things, no elections. Just the leader everyone will love unanimously.”

For a moment, Tex and the librarian shared in an ambivalent blink toward Alpha’s bot. 

“Me,” he clarified. “ _I_ would be the ruler of everything and everyone will love it because I’m fucking amazing.”

“Whatever,” Tex snapped. “So these plans never happened, but the construction did. So… we’ve got endless tunnels hollowed out under the city streets of Blood Gulch ripe for the criminal element to exploit.”

“You’ve got it,” Alpha nodded. “And you and I can study these together and figure out how to hit these guys where it hurts, clear out the subway, and reestablish the criminal empire.”

The librarian shifted uncomfortably. “Um… I don’t really want to be… assisting any of this. I’ve never even been in traffic court.”

Glaring at the librarian, Tex snapped, “Are you still here?”

“Yeah, get out of here, dork!” Alpha roared. “You’re interrupting our super awesome superhero-super villain dynamic vibes.”

Staring at them in confusion, the librarian asked, “Wait… which of you’s good and which of you’s evil?” 

“Get out!” Alpha and Tex harmonized. 

They watched together as the man scrambled out backwards through the door, slammed it shut, and took toward the front of the mostly abandoned library. It was almost amusing in how cartoonish it appeared.

“How long before he works up the nerve to call the cops?” Tex asked.

“How long before you think the cops are going to care enough to come?” Alpha asked back before floating over to the wall of printers and scanners. “I need you to hook me up to this guy and start scanning those maps. I’ll be able to upload them remotely.”

“Do I look like your superhero secretary?” Tex demanded. 

"Tex, I’m trying to help you take down other bad guys, work with me here,” he all but begged as he parked the bot right beside the printer and opened a side hatch. From it, a small cable appeared. 

She glared for a moment before grabbing the maps and walking over to the printer. “You owe me, you freaky asshole,” she informed him as she hooked up the bot and began scanning. 

“Whatever,” he laughed. “More like _you’re_ going to owe _me_  since you apparently need a lesson or two on what heroes are supposed to do and how they’re supposed to act.”

Tex began running the scans, raising a brow at him. “I thought your _hate boner_ kept you from judging good deeds and what not.”

“It does, I’ve got the moral compass of a young Ursula,” he agreed. 

Surprised by the analogy, Tex blinked. “Ursula?” 

“ _Little Mermaid_ , don’t worry about it,” Alpha brushed off. “Point is, I have no little voice in my head telling me to work for the greater good and all that stuff. But I’ve been trained to know I _should._ I just don’t care that I _don’t.”_

 _“Trained?”_ Tex repeated. “Alpha, I feel like I should know something about you that I don’t.”

“Pfft, that’d require you to care enough to find out who I am,” he replied. 

“If it bothers you that much, I will,” Tex answered as she continued feeding the scanner more maps. “So what’re you looking for on these?”

“Well, criminals are a lot more tech-based these days,” Alpha explained. “And if they’re operating underground, they’d need a way to communicate with the surface as well as keep themselves wired into the technology they use to move money, make exchanges – this, that and the other.”

“That makes sense,” she agreed.”

"Of course it does, my powers of deduction are astounding,” Alpha replied. “Aha– got it. Perfect point for a terminal access.”

Tex watched as Alpha’s cord zipped back inside of the bot and he began to float toward the door. “Also I just checked a police scanner and we’ve got an aggravated beat cop on the way. Apparently the library-boy called him directly.”

“We’ll be gone then,” Tex decided as she headed toward the door.

“Even if we weren’t, who cares. I know this guy, used to be a sergeant in the force, but he’s too gun ho. Ah, well. Like I always say, doesn’t pay to be a good guy in Blood Gulch,” Alpha bobbed along. “Hope his retirement works out for him.”

“It never does,” Tex joked as they headed pas the quivering librarian and out the door. She paused and looked over the guy before saluting him. “No worries. We’re actually fighting crime today.”

He just blinked at her as they headed out the door. 

“Where to, Alpha?” Tex asked. 

The bot paused and projected a map of the city, Blood Gulch highlighted, then a specific street highlighted beyond even that. 

“We’re heading to the underground and wiping out crime directly,” he informed her. “You, my dear heroine, are going to get to punch a guy with a very strong jawline that you can take as a challenge to shatter.”

Tex smirked and cracked her knuckles. “Great. What’s the name?”

“Street name is the curiously funny sounding _Crunchbite,”_ Alpha explained.

“Good, let’s go,” she said as she headed to her bike. 


	7. Throne of Blood Gulch

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I may have had almost too much fun with this chapter. 
> 
> Special thanks to @washingtonstub, @ashleystlawrence, @secretlystephaniebrown, @i-will-batman-you, @analiarvb, @the-anonymous-fangirl, Zambo, Yin, @notatroll7, and staininspace on tumblr and AO3 for the feedback!

Alpha’s point of sewer access left something to be desired. 

His hovering bot double checked around the alley before returning to where Tex was chaining down and covering up her bike in back of the alleyway. Aggravated grunts and groans were filling the air. 

“Hey, this is _your_ fault for not finding somewhere I could drive my motorcycle into the sewers,” she reminded him before finishing up.

“I don’t understand why you give a shit about leaving it in the alley. No one’s going to touch it,” he snapped back.

Tex narrowed her eyes at him. “Says _the super villain._ Listen, Alpha, I will throw myself out there and put myself in mortal danger for the sake of punching things. But I won’t put my most precious possession at risk for no reason at all.”

“Life comes with risk to property,” Alpha bobbed as he directed her to what was apparently his preferred manhole cover. 

“Yeah, you _really_ put yourself out there,” she muttered, taking no pause at all with flinging the heavy metal in one hand like it was nothing. 

“Maybe not _physically,_ but I’m risking thousands of dollars of equipment on my little outings,” Alpha replied readily, lowering himself into the hole at just a hair speed faster than Tex climbed down. “Like, these things get busted and I’m out some _serious_ hardware. Largely thanks to _you_ I might add.”

“Yeah, how much of that is your own money?” Tex asked, jumping down the rest of the way and grunting at the slight splash under her boots. “Disgusting. This had _better_ be worth it, Alpha.”

“Have I ever led you wrong?” Alpha asked as he bobbed along and began down one of the tunnels, his large eye beginning to project a bright flashlight. “C’mon. We’re close.”

Tex shook her head and took a putrid breath of air in before following after. 

The things she did to punch people.

The further they carried themselves along in the sewer, the more Alpha’s slight humming and the small background noises filtered through his speakers began to catch Tex’s attention. 

Ultimately they were little things of no consequence, which was probably why she had never really heard them before. Stuttering breaths, the strokes of a keyboard maybe, the rustle of someone on the other side of the unknown speaker seemingly far away from her. 

“You ever get bored looking through your little eye cam?” she asked as they continued. 

“Huh?” Alpha spun around, flashing her in the face with his light and causing a flinch back. “Oops sorry.” He turned back to their destination. “Do I get bored playing a real-life video game through my genius, state-of-the-art inventions? No. No I do not.” He paused. “But, you know, good try at conversation. I’m pretty sure your next question is going to get more personal. In which case you’ll slowly begin unraveling who I am and yadda yadda. Capture the real Alpha.”

“Still not a priority,” Tex assured him.

“Oh?” 

“Yeah, I prioritize catching _threats,”_ she grinned through her insult.

Alpha released a long string of canny laughter that sounded forced and sarcastic even through the filter. “Ohhhh what a bitch,” he trailed off before pausing, midair.

Tex came to a stop behind him as well. 

“We’re close. I’m detecting activity,” he told her. “If we’re quiet, I can probably hook in directly to their computers before they even know we’re here. Gather some digital evidence, figure out what their exact operations are, and call law enforcement to meet you topside before you throw the first punch.”

“That’s a terrible plan,” Tex snapped back.

The bot sputtered. “What? What the fuck’s wrong with you? No it’s not,” he defended. “It’s a fucking _beautiful_ plan. Ingenious. I know. I made it.”

Rolling her eyes, Tex stalked forward, pumping her shoulder hard enough into the eyebot to send it knocking into the wall of the sewer. She shrugged as she turned and walked backwards. 

“It doesn’t involve me punching enough things,” she informed him before turning back around. 

“What– No! Tex, hold up!” Alpha cried out. “If you just wait I’ll access everything remotely even. Tex!!!”

Alpha hadn’t been exaggerating when he declared them to be right on the cusp of the seedy underbelly of Blood Gulch. It took just one look over the area to see some patrolling guards with heavy duty assault weapons. They seemed to meet up and trade off positions in front of a door that probably led into a small, and formerly unused, maintenance room for Blood Gulch’s non-existent public workers. 

And knowing scum like Tex was fairly certain she did, it didn’t take long to figure out that this mysterious Crunchbite and the higher ups in his crew were probably behind that door. 

Tex cracked her knuckles eagerly. “Alright, finally.”

The sound of Alpha hovering up behind her rang in her ears and she gave the bot a glance. 

“Listen, if you give me just, like, _ten minutes._ Hell, just give me _thirty seconds_ to just _explain_ what we should do,” Alpha continued to pester.

Rolling her eyes again like it was going out of style, Tex ignored the bot and leaped into action.

“God fucking damn it, I hate superheroes,” Alpha bemoaned from the distance. 

The guards stiffened up, not in the least bit prepared to actually use their weapons. She figured that out soon enough as they both dropped with single hits. 

From there the approach was easy enough. 

She made a straight beeline for the door and, with a solid kick, welcomed herself right into Crunchbite’s territory. 

“Greetings, scum!” she called out as she walked the rest of the way into the room. To no surprise whatsoever, there were only about six people held up in the small space, all immediately turning in shock toward Tex. _All_ looked like people she would have no problem taking since most of them were either scared shitless or sitting behind computers. “I’m here for the biggest asshole out of all of you. Some loser known as _Crunchbite.”_

Those who weren’t already making it toward the back exit glanced toward the far corner just outside of Tex’s vision. 

Tex followed the looks only to feel her jaw drop slightly at the sight that awaited her. 

As a rule, Tex refused to be intimidated. She just didn’t allow it to happen because there was _no one,_ as far as she cared, that could take her on. 

But even then, she took pause as the creature in the corner seemed to grow more alert of her presence and took a stand. 

It was tall, almost eight feet when he got around to full standing up, and he was covered head to what-could-only-be-assumed-as toe in a shining, albeit dented, armor. And there was more bling than even Tex’s sarcasm could figure to deal with. 

“What the _fuck?”_ she asked out loud. 

The creature stalked forward, beady black eyes blinking curiously. Its mouth opened, exposing an unhinging jaw with mandibles and rows of teeth for days. All of which, given the air that brushed by Tex’s face when it roared, smelled.

She curled her nose and roughly rubbed at her cheek before looking back at it full on. 

“Let me guess,” she said in an only somewhat serious tone, “ _Crunchbite,_ right?”

He snarled again.

“Alright,” she shrugged, loosening up her shoulders. “That’s all I needed!” 

Without further ado, Tex drew back and let out a vicious growl of her own before throwing her entire body into the punch right for Crunchbite’s multiple jowls. It felt so good, the friction in her knuckles as they ground into the scales and felt the crack as much as she heard it.

A rarity for Tex, she threw so much into the hit that her turning foot actually left the ground for a moment before she caught herself and spun around to look at her handiwork. 

However, her jaw dropped slightly in shock as she saw that Crunchbite’s torso had contorted with the hit, but he was far from down _or_ out. 

The alien snarled viciously before opening its angry eyes and focusing in on her, jaws clicking together angrily just before the seemingly busted mandibles flapped and realigned themselves. 

Tex blinked and tilted her head back. “Oh, _fuck.”_

In another blink the creature hit back and Tex found herself breaking through the very door she had kicked in and smacking back first into disgusting sewer water just outside.

If not for her pride, Tex might’ve let out an “ow” as she laid back in the water. 

“Holy shit! Tex!” Alpha’s voice called out just before the floating eye appeared right before her face. “Damn it! I had a feeling this was going to go south fast!” 

“Alpha,” Tex choked out.

"Yeah?” the bot asked, tilting slightly.

“Shut up,” she ordered.

Almost immediately any stupid additional commentary Alpha had was interrupted by the animalistic roaring of Crunchbite from within the room. And just a moment later, the walls came bursting down as the creature forced himself through the door that was far too small for him. 

“Fucking hell! It’s a Sangheili!?” Alpha squeaked out. 

Pushing herself back up, Tex felt her tender cheek before glaring at the bot. “A _what?”_ she demanded.

“Nevermind that, let’s just regroup further away!” he snapped at her.

“No,” she hissed as she stood her ground and readied her fists. 

“NO!? What do you mean _no!?”_ he cried out over a series of gutteral noises coming from Crunchbite. “Ugh. You are going to be the death of me.”

“Oh, stop being melodramatic,” Tex ordered just before Alpha flew in between her and the creature. “Hey! What the hell are you doing!?”

Crunchbite turned his head, surprised by the appearance of Alpha and began spewing long honks and a series of _Blarghs_ as if trying to communicate with it. As he stepped closer, however, Crunchbite’s already tiny eyes narrowed, honing in on the ring of kitschy stickers lining what was visible of Alpha internally. 

“Yeah, sorry, I don’t know what you’re saying. Bet that’s disappointing being so far away from home,” Alpha joked with positively no sincerity to the apology whatsoever. 

Facing the robot directly, Crunchbite unleashed a bellowing roar that nearly made Alpha fly back as well before the robot shoo itself and stayed its course. 

“Alright, fine, ugly!” the villain spat just as an ominous red glow Tex recognized began to radiate from the eye. “My name is _Alpha! And you will fear my laser face!”_

The blast that beamed from Alpha’s bot was stronger, hotter, and brighter than any that Tex had seen from the robot thus far. And all of it was focused directly on Crunchbite. 

“Son of a bitch!” Tex uttered as she had to take a step back, covering her eyes. 

She was incredibly impressed for about twenty seconds. Then she noticed that while Crunchbite had withdrawn only a few steps before releasing a few strong bark-like noises that ended with the creature grabbing Alpha’s bot from the sky and ripping it completely in half.

“Alpha!” she shouted just before catching herself in the ridiculousness of being upset over the loss of a drone. “Well, at least he can’t blame me for _that one.”_

Crunchbite seemed to chuckle as he threw the parts of Alpha across the sewer and redirected his attention to Tex. She steadied herself on her feet, holding up her fists in expectation. Feet light, ready to have her throwdown.

The creature stepped forward, mandibles clicking patronizingly as he neared Tex. Which was _just about_ the last straw since Tex was absolutely _done_ with being patronized by people lately who deserved the other end of her fist. 

“I don’t know _what_ you’re saying, buddy,” Tex informed him as they continued to square off. “I can just tell you one thing: I _don’t_ like the way you say it. It’s honestly pissing me off. And, Crunchbite? You’re _not_ gonna like me when I’m pissed off.”

Roaring one more time for good measure, Crunchbite dove for her, claws extended and mouth bearing teeth just as Tex threw a punch for his waist. Whatever the thing was, it seemed hunched over with broad torso and a thinner waist. 

She hoped that was a clue as to its weakness but was met instead with the crunch of her hit against solid scale and muscle. It was like striking metal with a twain. 

“Son of a,” she hissed out just before the behemoth grabbed her by her shoulder and sent her flying into the distant wall. 

There was an uncomfortable smack of her body against brick before she slid into the slow undercurrent of sewer water. Which meant her only pair of patrol clothes were going to stink something awful the next couple of washes.

Before Tex could fully push back up from the waters, the monster was on her again, except this time around she got a full understanding of his ridiculous nickname as his rows of teeth sunk into the shoulder of her favored arm and launched her out of the water by it. 

Tex went toppling through the air, her shoulder blearing with pain, but she refused to let it get her full attention. As she came crashing toward the ground, Tex tucked into a row and managed to land on her feet by the second tuck, grinning like a mad woman at the monster gangster. 

“Alright, I take it back,” she seethed. “You’re _definitely_ getting me pissed now!” With that she lunged forward and didn’t hold back a bit. 

Crunchbite confidently stood in wait for her, but guessing by his expression, he didn’t expect for Tex to disappear without a trace before his very eyes.

The monster looked around, bewildered. 

Enjoying her not used oft enough invisibility, Tex followed Alpha’s long forgotten advice about surprise, sneaking behind Crunchbite and laying into him with a solid kick. Without her usual amount of restraint on her strength, there was a horrendous crack sending Crunchbite forward, his back plating cracking. 

He roared and flipped around with a wild swing of his arm, but Tex had already wisely stepped back in expectation. 

She watched as Crunchbite looked about, confused, before she brought her good fist into full swing right for his jaw. 

And with everything in her, Tex unleashed hell on Crunchbite, watching as he crumpled to the ground with the inertia of a logging tree. 

“Huh,” Tex huffed, breathless as she allowed her invisibility to fall to the wayside. “I-I guess Alpha was right. About… punchable… jaw…”

Eyes rolling back, Tex barely realized she was falling backwards until she felt arms catch her. Which was completely cliche and made her consider punching whoever it was with the energy she no longer had. 

"Holy shit, Tex!”

Her head was swimming but that voice was enough to make her eyes snap back open with new life. She glared up and saw…

An atrocious wig. 

“What the hell are you wearing?” she demanded.

“What? You think I’m just going to walk out of my secret, cool lair where I keep my identity on the down low with my civvies? Show everyone who I am?” he asked wearing – god what the hell. It was the gaudiest thing Tex had seen a while. And she just fought a gangster monster with bling. 

She was drug to the drier siding of the sewer and sat up and – _he had a cross chest satchel with a first aid kit in it –_ like a complete dork. 

“Alpha,” she said firmly, gaining some of her senses.

“Dude, watch it, you’re losing a lot of blood,” he warned as he began to pull out supplies. “And I want to get out of here as fast as fucking possible – man, _I’m breaking all my rules!_ I never leave my lab while I’m Alpha! Never! This is horse shit.”

“Alpha,” she restated, sobering up as she tried to work out what her observations were adding up to. 

“Are you delusional or something? Yes. It’s me. Alpha, in the actual living, human, ingenious flesh,” he grunted before pulling apart the gauze with his teeth. 

Tex narrowed her eyes and used her good hand to reach forward and squeeze his bandaged nose, eliciting a yelp of pain. “Why the fuck are you wearing a bandage?”

“Ow! None of your fucking business! Ow! It’s work related, stop!” he yowled in a voice so familiar that Tex couldn’t deny it anymore no matter how much she wanted to. 

“Son of a,” she uttered before releasing his nose and leaning back to get a full look at him. “Fucking– _Church!?”_

The fact that Alpha’s immediate reaction was to stop curling around his damaged nose and look back at the calling of Church’s name was damning in and of itself. His mouth dropped slightly and he squinted before his eyes widened. 

“ _Allison!?”_

“What the – _how did you not know!?”_ Tex demanded. “This is the first time I’ve seen you! You never figured out who I was!? Mister _Evil Genius?”_

“Well, _excuuuuuse_ me! I respect privacy!” Church shouted back, voice cracking. 

They stared at each other for a few more moments before Tex couldn’t help but begin snorting. Her head fell back and she smacked her good hand against her knee as the laughter bubbled out of her. 

“Oh my god, you’re such a nerd,” she wheezed. 

“And you’re probably dying in a disgusting, dank, public sewer, how’s that go for you?” Church snapped as he continued to grab his supplies and began bandaging her arm. “Seriously, Tex, this looks awful. Almost as awful as my poor, stupid Alpha-bot.” 

Sighing, Church spared a look to the parts of his creation strewn across the sewer. “Rest in peace good buddy.”

“I can’t… oh my god. Do you have any idea how corny you are?” Tex crackled. “And it’s… It’s _you._ Oh my god. You, mister scary wants to take over the city–”

“World, don’t cut me short,” Church huffed.

“Work in a community college _cafeteria_ part time,” she laughed. 

“Nothing prepares you for hatred like public service, don’t belittle evil’s greatest recruitment efforts,” Church argued as he finished up her arm and let out a low breath. “Okay, I’m going to help you up just take it easy. Ready–”

Tex pulled both of them off the floor and pinned Church against the wall, smirking at him. 

He narrowed his eyes. “Were you faking?”

“I’m resilient,” she informed him. “Just takes me a minute to catch my breath when I’m hurt. One of those superhuman things.”

“Oh, good for you,” he snapped. His eyes then widened as he realized what could possibly happen next. He looked at her, a little worried line grown on his brow. “Are… you going to turn me into the cops?”

“Depends,” she hummed. “Who’s the other girl?”

“What?” Church asked, baffled. 

“The other girl, the one you hadn’t seen in a while?” Tex asked. He raised her brows as a dusting of red crossed his cheeks. “Is she a girl named _Tex?_ ”

The pinkness spread to Church’s ears and he tried to look away, flustered. “Shut up.”

Before another word was said, Tex grabbed Church’s waist and threw him over her shoulder, eliciting an undignified yelp from the man. 

“Hey! What the hell, let me down! Are you turning me in?” he cried out.

“For what? You’ve failed at every attempted robbery where I caused just as much damage as you and then today you helped me take down the guy at the top of the Blood Gulch underground.”

“Oh,” Church responded, a bit surprised. “Yeah, I guess– Hey, they weren’t _complete_ failures!”

“Shut up, Alpha,” she mused. 

About the time Tex neared the ladder for the manhole she had came through, Church began fidgeting against her grip again. “Hey! Seriously, what are we doing?”

“You’re taking me home to take better care of my wounds,” Tex informed him, finally setting him back down. “And then you’re going to tell me _exactly_ who you are and why you know so much about being a superhero and whatever _that_ thing was.”

Church wobbled on his own two feet for a second but then raised a brow at her. “Oh? You going to make me?”

“I have my ways,” she grinned.

“Just so you know, I laugh in the face of torture,” he informed her. “You know what I look up on the internet to pass the time? Nothing physically possible scares me anymore–”

Before he could even finish the sentence, Tex pressed his back to the wall and kissed him as hard as she could. It was messy, and more than a little gross considering the environment, but church’s hands dug into her jacket the moment he was able to. 

“Have I mentioned I kind of enjoy terrible super villains?” she snorted against his mouth before kissing again. 

Only maybe that was a bit too much because Church’s nose rubbed against her cheekbone and he pulled back flinching and seething. 

“Ow ow ow!” he moaned. 

“Come on,” Tex demanded, a little breathless as she began to scale the ladder. “You must not be too far from here considering how fast you got here.”

Church looked after her, realizing that he had just stopped their make out session in the sewers. His face shared the sort of expression Tex expected from someone who had just flushed their goldfish.

“W-wait!” he called as he climbed after her. 


	8. Woman of Steel

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I meant to get this out yesterday so I apologize a bit for that! I had a bit of a brain fart (probably too much Angst Warring, which let’s be real, the Hero Time AU canon is somewhat in opposition to because it’s full on fun and shenanigans). But I hope you enjoy a bit of an exposition chapter. Mostly because exposition is an excuse to make everyone yell at each other for various things when it comes to these characters lol
> 
> Special thanks to @ashleystlawrence, @secretlystephaniebrown, @allabtnothin, @analiarvb, @sister-grifs, @thepheonixqueen, @the-anonymous-fangirl, @i-will-batman-you, @washingtonstub, @100wordsummaries, Yin, SoDaLaFaMiDoRe, @notatroll7, staininspace, Zambo, and SenpaiGabby on tumblr and AO3 for the feedback!

The skin of the wound was puckered, angry, and red when she looked at it in the morning. 

Tex had to all but sit on the small apartment’s sink in order to get a good look in the mirror, examining beneath Alpha’s – _Church’s –_ hastily applied dressings. It was hard to imagine just what the infamous Crunchbite’s jaws might’ve done to a regular person’s muscly shoulder had they switched places with Tex the night before. 

For Tex, an injury usually disappeared after a good night’s sleep. And _damn_ had she made sure she had gotten that the night before. 

Church’s bed had been the first mattress she’d slept on in ages. Probably since she first rolled back into Blood Gulch. And the second she had hit it, she had been in heaven. 

Which made it all the weirder and disorienting that morning when she woke up to the strange sights and sounds of being in a complete _nerd’s_ bedroom.

Computers hummed, there looked like wires were hanging out of the walls, there were posters _everywhere_ and an entire bookshelf dedicated to what was no doubt expensive figurines of various cartoon villains throughout the history of entertainment. 

Tex didn’t want to hear Alpha complain about a lack of funds even _one more time_ because she officially knew the _real_ reason he wasn’t ruling the world yet. 

He was a complete child.

She turned some of the figurines around to face the wall just to pay him back for being a disappointing dork then checked out the bathroom – easy enough to find, it was the next door to Church’s room. 

Still in her uniform, Tex knew she smelled like sewer still, so she went ahead and helped herself to the shower as well. _Why the hell not._ It wasn’t like Church could stop her. 

His robot wasn’t even in commission anymore. 

After the shower, Tex toweled off, reached for her scattered clothes, and took one smell before doing a full body shake. 

She wondered idly if it’d be better to clean them that night or to just go ahead and nuke them. 

The one thing she wasn’t going to be able to do was put them back on. So with a grunt, she picked them up and stepped back into the hall to head back to Church’s room. The asshole owe her a lot for not turning him into the cops immediately like a good superhero. Some of the debt probably could be stretched to include clothes. 

“Holy fuck!” 

Grasping the doorknob, Tex clicked her tongue against her teeth before looking over her shoulder and raising a brow. She _knew_ the voice so it wasn’t like she needed the visual confirmation. 

“Allison!?” Tucker cried out. 

“You’re the roommate?” she asked, a little baffled. “Don’t you two hate each other?”

Blanching, Tucker shook his head and wiped at his eyes as if he were dreaming. Then he choked on whatever words were trying to crawl out of his throat before finally coming out with, “Don’t _you_?”

“You were always joking that we were making bedroom eyes,” Tex snapped. 

“I was joking that you had tension and that Church wanted to tap that like it was nobody’s business,” Tucker answered. “I believed you had _way_ higher standards!”

“Oh, I do,” Tex agreed before going rigid. “Wait a fucking– What do you think I’m doing here?”

Tucker squinted. “Standing naked outside of Church’s room?”

Well. It wasn’t like he was _wrong._

“Alright, give me a minute to rectify at least _part_ of that situation,” Tex huffed, pushing the door open and going in. Not that grabbing some of Church’s clothes to wear was going to aid any of her arguments to come with Tucker, but it was at least going to keep him about as concentrated on her face rather than her assets as normal. 

By the time she was back outside, she could hear the married bickering of Church and Tucker that she was used to coming from further inside the apartment. She made a beeline for it. 

“Dude! How. _How_ are you getting tail!? _You!_ Mister Asshole Grumpy-Cat!” Tucker sounded on the edge of hysteria. 

“Is that a problem for you all of the sudden, Tucker?” Church scoffed around a spoon of sugary looking cereal. 

“When I’m getting _none?_ Yes. Fucking hell yes it is!” Tucker cried out. 

“Well, calm the fuck down,” Church snapped. “Nothing happened. She came home. She collapsed on the bed. I slept on the couch. End of story.”

“Yeah, what kind of pussy move was that, _Leonard?”_ Tex called out, crossing into the room and grabbing the boys’ attentions. 

She did not miss the way Church grew prickly and stiff at seeing his wardrobe on her, or the way Tucker’s eyes predictably sunk to give her a look over in disappointment. She looked for something to grab and throw at him.

“What? I should’ve gotten in bed with you? Yeah. _That_ wouldn’t have ended up with a punch to my dick this morning,” Church scoffed.

“ _God_ no,” Tex rolled her eyes. “I mean you should’ve kicked me the fuck out of your bed and forced me to sleep on the couch. It’s _your_ fucking apartment, isn’t it? Grow a pair.”

“I’m not _inhospitable,_ Allison,” Church corrected. “I’m _hospitable with a grudge._ My bubbe raised me with the right priorities.”

They glared at each other for a moment and Tex put her hands on her hips. She couldn’t help but think they got along somewhat better when she had a floating head to talk to rather than the asshole she had been teaching how to take a hit for the last few weeks. Or perhaps the other way around.

The situation was uniquely confusing.

Tucker whipped his head back and forth between them before he shook and pointed to Tex. “ _This_ is what I meant about the stupid fucking tension.”

Annoyed, Tex looked at him flippantly. “Is there a _reason_ you’re still here, Tucker?” she demanded. 

“You mean besides _living_ here?” he asked, genuinely confused. 

Tex set her jaw and then looked back at Church. “We need to go and… _discuss_ things.”

“Things,” Church repeated blandly.

“Important things you need to explain to me,” she continued. “About last night. What happened. And why you _know_ so much shit that I don’t. _And why the fuck you care.”_

“Look, Allison, I’m a certified genius, but I don’t speak in vague tongues to people to avoid explicit information through confusion,” he said back snappishly. “I just circulate logic and facts in words and sentences too complicated for the dumb masses to follow.”

Tucker looked utterly taken aback. “Then why do I know so much shit?”

“Because I can’t be bothered with you,” Church snorted.

“Know? What the fuck does he know?” Tex demanded.

“I just said I can’t be bothered,” Church restated, staring at her like the question had been part of a personal disappointment. “Come on, keep up.”

Waving to himself, Tucker said, “Uh. Yes? Hello? Still standing here. You can ask me what _I_ know. Because I’m here. Part of the same room.”

“Okay, fine, Tucker,” Tex snapped. “What do _you_ know about Church.” She leveled a look at Church. “Since he’s being a prick and avoiding my direct questions.”

Church simply grinned as he scooped another spoonful of disgusting cereal in his mouth. 

“Uh, everything?” Tucker shrugged. “He’s an annoying prick. He never replaces the toilet paper roll. He’s really bad for breaking video game controllers. He’s the shittiest super villain of all time.”

“Hey!” Church snapped.

Tex blinked and shook her head before crossing her arms. “Wait a minute. You _know_ he’s a super villain?”

Tucker snorted. “Please, I knew before Church did. _Totally_ called it.” He then gave Church a sly look over. “But… I mean, have you _met_ Church? He has an argument for why Saruman should be admired.”

“A _speech_  about why Saruman should be admired, Tucker,” Church corrected testily. “An _argument_ makes it sound like I care what other people have to say about it. Let’s not misname things.”

“And you’ve never reported him?” Tex asked seriously.

“To who?” Tucker asked, honestly bewildered. 

“The _police?”_ Tex asked back.

“Are _you?”_ Tuck scoffed. “Is _anyone_ in Blood Gulch? I mean. Who gives a fuck. It’s not like Church is the kind that would hurt anyone. All he cares about is money. And something about the government.”

“Do you listen to anything I say about inherent corruption?” Church asked seriously. 

Tucker just shot Church a look that rivaled one of Tex’s own.

Visibly aggravated, Church let his spoon drop back into his cereal bowl with a clatter. “Right, of course. What was I thinking.”

“Stupid shit,” Tucker replied.

“Fine, but we still need to go somewhere with _some_ privacy because I don’t need Tucker to know about _my_ perspective,” Tex continued to press.

Church hummed a bit. “Uh, _well_ …”

Tucker blinked a few times, looking at Tex then Church then back and suddenly a spark lit in his eyes. “Holy shit.”

“What?” Tex demanded. “What just happened–” Her eyes widened and then she looked at Church. “He knows who the _other girl_ is?”

Coughing into his fist, Church shrugged somewhat. “I mean. If he puts two and two together, that can’t be on _me–”_

“Holy fuck _you’re Tex!”_ Tucker gasped out loud.

Growling, Tex narrowed her eyes at them. “For the record, Church, _I can totally put blame on you if I want._ And I just happen to want to.” She then pointed dangerously at Tucker. “And for the record toothpicks-for-arms? I can break you. And I can make it even worse than what you’re probably imagining it as right now. A _lot_ worse.”

Tucker blinked at her through the threat and tilted his head. “Huh.” He glanced back to Church. “You sure she’s a superhero?”

“I haven’t exactly asked for credentials,” Church replied. “But, yes, Tucker, I’m pretty sure she is.”

“She sounds bitter and disenfranchised,” Tucker laughed and looked toward Church. “You pick up another academy drop out?”

At that, Church squeezed his eyes shut and let out a long string of curses under his breath. For most people that would have slowly petered out like a balloon, but Church actually grew louder before glaring at Tucker and shouting, “Goddammit, Tucker. I’m trying to build some mystique here!” 

” _What_ mystique?” Tucker demanded. “You wear an electric blue wig and pumped up kicks. Mystique is about as far away from your ass as it can get.”

“Academy,” Tex hummed before looking toward Church. “Explain.”

“I just said I’m working toward an _air of mystique,”_ Church snapped. “ _Telling_ would ruin that effort.”

“No. You being a _nerd_ ruined that effort,” Tex corrected. “Now talk before I actually start getting annoyed with all of this and just beat it out of you.”

Church squinted. “Threatening bodily harm. Just like a beat’em’up action superhero. You guys with the superpowers that are all brawn and no brains.”

“Oh my god, you’re annoying _me_ and I know the whole thing,” Tucker groaned. He glanced to Tex. “If you want him to tell you his life story from start to finish, I can go get us a bottle of Jack Daniels and this’ll all go a lot smoother. You’ll get an ear full even if you don’t want it!”

“Thanks for the tip,” Tex said agreeably enough before cracking her knuckles. “But I prefer the _brawn_ approach to life. Church has that much right.”

“I went to an academy,” Church said sarcastically. “Happy?”

“Oh, you know me, _Alpha,”_ Tex hissed. “I’m happiest when I’m slugging something.”

“For fuck’s sake,” Church groaned, as if he was _so_ put out. “I have super powers. Born with them. Always had them. I was recruited as a kid to go to an institute that would train me to be a superhero, use my powers for good, all that usual garbage. I was bored by public school so I said _sure why not._ Turns out that it all was bogus, but I had a lot of access to grade-a tech which is fun and all for my powers. I didn’t want to be a superhero. Institute wasn’t happy. And it turns out that I had to get my GED and could only get into community college rather than a university because the institute _royally fucked me_ and their shitty superhero certifications don’t qualify you for fuck-all in the real world.”

“And he can’t keep a job so a roommate helps pay rent,” Tucker continued eagerly, making an emphatic wave to himself. “Ta da.”

Unimpressed, Tex stood her ground. “What, that’s _it?”_ she demanded.

“It? What do you mean _it?_ That’s literally everything,” Church said.

“No, it’s a very _abridged_ everything,” Tex replied. “I find that people give those kinds of overviews with lots of missing detail because lots of missing details lead to an entirely different story altogether.”

Church narrowed his eyes. “Well, it doesn’t.”

“That just means it does,” Tex scoffed as she waved her hand.

“Hey, _Allison,_ I don’t see you offering up any info on _yourself._ You’re the bigger mystery here,” Church pressed, pointing at her. “So how about _you_ answer some of _our_ questions. How about that?”

“Like?” she asked thinly.

“Like what the hell you mean. ‘I find’ – when do you talk to anybody instead of punching them? What experience do _you_ have?” Church demanded. “I know my shit because it was pounded into my brain more than English teachers teach _The Scarlet Letter._ You? What’s _your_ deal?”

Tex stared back before flexing her arm and rolling up the sleeve. “This. This is my story. _I’m a fucking tank.”_

Tucker looked like his birthday came early. “Uh, _fuck yes._ I like _that_ logic!”

Scowling, Church looked like he wanted to probe Tex’s brain for a science experiment. “Do you want to be a Freelancer or something? And don’t know how to go about it?”

“What?” she asked, honestly offended.

“Because if you want to be a Freelancer, for the love of god, just go ahead and report me to the police because I’m done,” Church continued. “I can’t deal with their shit being an obstacle in my life anymore.”

They shared each other’s gazes for a moment.

Still needing to prove he was somehow relevant, Tucker stage whispered to Tex, “ _They_ were the institute–”

“I got it,” Tex replied dryly. She didn’t drop her gaze from Church, though, merely nodding to him. “Freelancer’s got nothing to do with me.”

“Your superhero name is _Tex,”_ Church reminded her.

“Coincidence,” she said. “I drove in from _Texas.”_

They stayed solid for a moment before Church grunted and looked off. “Sure. Whatever.”

“You can’t _whatever_ me when you bring up the stupid fucking subject,” Tex declared. 

“Watch me,” Church bit back. “Look, I’ve been through this before, okay. Hero comes into town. Makes waves by showing off all the time. Plays up to the camera. _Conveniently_ already has a name to match the current Freelancer naming scheme and _Shock of All Shocks_ they accept a Freelancer offer to join up or leave the city in frustration to try to make it somewhere else big.”

“I don’t give a damn about Freelancers,” Tex reiterated. “And I don’t play up to cameras. I just like punching people who deserve it.”

“Whatever,” Church repeated before standing up, grabbing his bowl, and heading to the sink. “I do know this, though… We kinda make an awesome team.”

“Don’t flatter yourself,” Tex scoffed. She flexed again. “It’s my guns doing all the work every time you or I have been forced together by circumstances.”

“Also you have an amazing ass,” Tucker spoke up.

They both turned and stared at him.

Tucker shrugged. “It’s the first thing I saw this morning! So sue me–” he let out a screech as Tex grabbed a coaster and sent it right for his forehead. 

“You’re super strong, resilient, and you turn invisible,” Church picked back up, looking at Tex seriously. “You wont the genetic lottery on super powers. Congrats. And to scratch that itch you came to a shitty part of town where there’s plenty of injustice to exact your brand of _street fighter vigilantism_ on. But you’re already remarkably better at that than the nuts who do that for years. Pretty soon it’s not going to scratch that itch anymore, and you’re going to know that _you’re_ better than what you’re doing. And either you’re going to get better and do better on your own, start going after criminals that _really_ matter and get them where they _hurt_ , or you’ll be recruited. And you’ll say yes to the recruitment not because you have any respect for the team, but because they’ll give you something a little more to scratch your itch.”

Tex looked at Church seriously, feeling like he just cut through her chest and peeled back her ribs, looked at her right to the core. 

He merely shook his head and headed toward his room. “I know your type, Tex. I just want to show you that you don’t have to be part of the Douchebag Squadron in order to be the kind of hero you _really_ want to be.”

“Well, fuck off. You’re _wrong,”_ Tex growled. “You don’t know about me or else you’d know I’m just _fine_ being the hero I am now.” She watched as Church the the door behind him. “And Freelancers are almost as big of dorks as you! _Have you seen their costumes?”_

 _“Right?”_ Tucker cried out, throwing up his arms. “Oh my god, someone else notices! They look like dorks. Like the _worst_ , right?”

“Right,” Tex agreed, more readily than she would have liked. “They almost look like as big of dorks as _Alpha.”_

Tucker waved his hand. “Okay, let’s not exaggerate here, Tex. You’ve officially seen Church’s _ultimate form._ Let’s not be insulting to Freelancer just for the sake of it.”

“Why not?” she shrugged. 

He blinked at her before shrugging. “You’re right. Let’s just be catty bitches.” As he walked over to her, he whistled at her arms. “Seriously, though you look like a stonecold badass.”

"You should see me in clothes that actually fit,” she hummed back. 

“Dude, I saw you naked, I know what’s going on,” Tucker reminded her only to seethe as she punched his shoulder. “Ow! Holy fuck!”

“Watch it,” she warned. “I’m inviting you to go with me to the gym to pick up some of my things.” Tex jerked her head toward Church’s door. “Pretty sure I’ve lost my invitation to stay here any longer.”

“What? Oh, he’s _fine,_ let him sulk,” Tucker shrugged. “But fuck _yes_ I will go with you to the gym, are you kidding?” He paused and blinked. “Why’s your stuff at a gym?”

“I’ll show you,” she said before nodding to the door as she walked toward it. “How do you feel about motorcycles?”

“Eh, kinda intimate. Fucking hot,” Tucker responded as he followed after her. His face lit up. “Oh! Are we–”

“After that stirring argument you just gave me against ever coming _near_ you with a motorcycle? Absolutely not,” Tex replied. “We’re walking.”

“Aw, fuckberries,” he groaned. 


	9. Ego

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m going to concentrate on Hero Time quite a bit this week, like even more than usual. I’ve got a huge creative burst for it so hopefully in a few days we’ll see the next chapter! But first, the answers to a few questions we’ve all been wondering ; ) 
> 
> Special thanks to @thepheonixqueen, @secretlystephaniebrown, @allabtnothin, @ashleystlawrence, @the-anonymous-fangirl, @lunausa, @novofame, @100wordsummaries, Zambo, SoDoLaFaMiDoRe, ms-aqua-marvel, @notatroll7, Yin, and Beawolfs_Pen on tumblr and AO3 for the feedback!

Tex honestly didn’t know how it was true, but it simply _was_ true. 

Tucker was _not_ the worst company in the world. And the truth of that fact made her wonder a bit more about her sanity than usual.

He sprawled out across the benches nearby her preferred punching bag toward the back of the gym, played with his phone and complained about reception, occasionally drug a bag around behind him that _might_ have made him look more like a community college student if he filled it more with books and than condoms. 

But mostly he just complained about how out of reach the television was. 

“Throw your shoe,” she suggested, somewhat breathless as she continued to beat her fists against the bag. 

It was all muscle memory to her at that point, more about practicing her speed and her form than it was about testing how many punching bags she could break in half with a single hit. It wasn’t like the gym had that many more _left_ for her to do that to. 

“You said that last time and that weird guy came out here and yelled at me,” Tucker moaned. “Just get on the stool and change the channel, Tex, _please!”_

“Tucker, do I look like I care _at all_ about what the fuck’s on the TV?” she asked, catching the sandbag on its backswing and looking back at him. “Why don’t _you_ get up and change it, you lazy piece of shit.”

“Uh, _because_ I’m a lazy piece of shit, duh,” Tucker replied as he stretched out and made himself comfortable. “So when’s this place closing down?” 

“It’s not,” Tex replied, scooping down enough to grab her water bottle and then plopping down on the further end of the bench. She barely gave Tucker enough time to move his feet. 

“You sure?” he asked. “No one’s ever here but you and that smelly janitor.”

“I like that smelly janitor,” she hummed mostly for herself. “But no, it’s not going to close down. Who gave you that idea?”

“Well, if you mean _besides_ my own eyes, that was what Church said the first time he set eyes on the place,” Tucker informed her. 

Tex rolled her eyes. 

Church’s first time to the gym had also been his _only_ time to the gym so the fact that he would immediately find _something_ negative to say about the place was probably one of the less surprising revelations of the day. 

“It’s fine,” Tex said with a shrug as she began to unwrap her hands. “This place is a _historical site_  more than it’s a gym anymore. Some boxer from the forties who won the heavyweight championship trained here. Blood Gulch’s one and only pride and joy.”

Tucker blinked a few times and turned his head enough to face her while still staying laid back on the bench. “Huh. Lived here my whole life and never heard of this dump,” he noted.

“Yeah, well, that’s one thing they don’t tell you when you fight tooth and nail to get a place registered as a historical site,” Tex huffed, snapping off the lid of her next water bottle. “It becomes a _literal_ act of congress to update the place, keep it relevant. You can’t replace paint or benches or fucking _televisions,”_ she nodded toward the crappy television with rabbit ears, “without city approval. And what the fuck does the _city_ care about some historical place in the worst part of town?”

Tucker hummed. “Good question. I live here and I barely have the energy to care about it,” he returned. 

She took a sip of her drink, eyeing her friend before splashing some on his face.

“Hey! Bitch!” he laughed, finally pushing himself up and off the bench. 

Shaking like a dog, Tucker tried to ring the water out of his shirt before walking over toward the television and changing it for himself. “So why aren’t you coming to the cafeteria as much?” he asked. “Too ashamed of our mutual source of disappointment? Because that’s totally valid.”

“You’re a lot harsher on him than I am,” Tex said, almost sounding impressed. “Which is saying something, since I’m _me.”_

“Eh, only because I know he can take it from me,” Tucker shrugged. 

“Can Church _really_ though?” Tex asked, raising a brow. 

“No, of course not,” Tucker laughed. “But you’ve seen that ego. _Someone_ has to burst his bubble a _little_ bit just to keep him from suffocating himself. And since you two are barely having full conversations after your double secret extra lives of being Captain Oblivious and the No-Shit-Sherlock Woman, that duty has all fallen on my delicate and smooth shoulders.”

As if the statement needed emphasis, Tucker ran his hands over said shoulders. It barely gave him time to react when she splashed water at him again.

“Hey! Watch it, the only one who’s going to fall on this water later is _you_ , y’know,” he warned.

“How _is_ Church?” she asked. “I barely see him when I _do_ go to the cafeteria. Why else do you think I hardly show up anymore? I’m sure as hell not paying for my own food.”

“Good point,” Tucker replied. “I don’t know. What Church always does when he’s stressed or emotional proving that he _does_ have emotions beyond, I don’t know, anger and bitterness.”

There was a beat of silence before Tex waved her hand expectantly for him to continue. 

“He locks himself up in his room and makes an awful ruckus while he builds useless robots,” Tucker elaborated. “ _Or_  he’s gotten back into _WoW._ Honestly, I hope it’s the former but it’s probably the latter. Both because it’s always the one I don’t want it to be _plus_ it’s been less him hammering and using a blow torch noises and more that _constant_ clack clack clack _CLACK_ of his fucking keyboard. _Plus plus_ it’s the glowy lights coming from his door.”

“Does it smell like cheese whiz when you walk by?” Tex asked.

“Yeah, but when _doesn’t_ it smell like cheese whiz?” Tucker asked back.

Tex tapped her fingers against her knee in thought to the question. 

“Would he really go straight back to making a new robot after the thing with Crunchbite?” Tex asked. “It was pretty ineffective.”

“Please, that makes it a challenge,” Tucker said with a wave of his hand. “And trust me, if there’s one way to get Leonard Church to do anything it’s to make him feel like his ego has something to prove.”

It still didn’t feel quite right but Tex wasn’t sure what to make of the feeling. 

Her fist clenched slightly, crushing the water bottle. 

She honestly could accept that he was flaking because he was an obsessive super villain at the end of the day. But she refused to believe it was a video game keeping Church avoiding her. Not after she kissed him.

In the disgusting sewers. Which might’ve been its own problem in and of itself. 

“So, what’s your history with this place?” Tucker asked, finally messing with the television and trying desperately to sift through the channels.

“Who says I have history?” Tex snapped back a moment too quick.

“Eh, your general attitude. The fact you lived in Texas for a long ass time but knew about a hole in the wall that even I didn’t know about,” Tucker listed off with some casual shrugs. “Maybe I’m a goddamn mindreader. Who knows!”

“Alright, smartass,” she huffed. “Here’s my history.” 

Tucker glanced over his shoulder just as Tex flexed. 

“Cute,” he responded dryly. 

“What do you want from me?” she asked. 

“Conversation? Fuck if I know. I definitely don’t come here to work out,” he laughed back.

“Your loss,” she said back, getting up and poking at his bony shoulder blade. “I could break you.”

“Dude, I’m a lover not a fighter,” he retorted, smacking her hand away playfully. “And besides, you can break steel rebar from what Church used to tell me about _Tex.”_

“Eh, what does he know,” she shrugged. “He basically builds his crap out of plywood and toothpicks. He practically _asks_ me to break them.” When she looked back to him, she found a disappointed frown on his face. “What? What’s _that_ face for?”

“You’re _really_ not going to tell me what’s with this place,” he huffed.

“I don’t see how it’s your business. It’s not anyone’s business,” she snapped.

“Whatever,” Tucker groaned before settling on a channel. “Go back to hitting things. My show’s on.”

Tex gritted her teeth and watched Tucker as he walked back to his bench only to feel a prickling sense of interest as she recognized the bombastic tune from the television. 

Blinking, Tex turned and looked to see _Superhero Runway_ blaring on the screen.

“You watch this garbage?” she asked critically.

“Supermodels taking turns wearing the most awful superhero costumes hoity toity designers make while in the background bitchy contestants rip each other’s hair out over the newest brands of kevlar?” Tucker asked, rummaging through his backpack and knocking condoms out left and right as he grabbed a snack. “ _Abso-fucking-lutely_ I watch this garbage!”

Tex waited a moment, watching as the lineup of designers began their catty introductions before walking over to the bench and butting Tucker over with her hip. 

He just grinned and made room for her. 

They leaned back and snorted indiscriminately at the nonsense on the screen. Tex took more than a few opportunities to steal Tucker’s snacks from him, though he didn’t protest. Maybe out of fear for his life.

She enjoyed it. The ridiculousness of the people on screen.

They were real people but their ridiculous problems, the overblown issues – it distracted. It distracted from the reality of the pettiness or the ugliness of their designs and final products. It was a lot like the disconnect between people and superheroes – it was _exactly_ like it, really. 

People liked to be able to laugh at the problems that seemed so much bigger than their own. 

Things like assholes you bothered to kiss getting cold enough feet to not even say hello to you anymore. 

“Tucker,” Tex spoke up during commercial. “What made Church decide he wasn’t sticking with the whole superhero path?”

“He said he didn’t have the character for it,” Tucker shrugged. “Sounds like him. I mean. The guy would totally not be happy pretending to save other people out of genuine concern. And I don’t imagine the public’d like him being an ass about saving them all the damn time. Not a good fit, y’know? Like how some people are just meant to be plumbers. The world needs good plumbers. Guess it needs good super villains too.”

“But he’s terrible at it,” Tex reminded him.

“Well, _yeah,_ but I’m not going to tell him that,” Tucker laughed. 

Tex looked at him for a moment before sighing and looking to the television. “My dad wasn’t allowed to be a boxer.”

Tucker stared ahead for a moment before finally looking her way. “What? No good at it?”

“Fuck no,” Tex laughed. “Asshole was _made_ for it. His dad was the king. My dad was gonna be right after him.”

The college student sat up and blinked. He waved his hand around the gym. “Your grandpa?”

“This place is always open and free to my family,” she explained with a shrug. “My dad worked out here every day from the day he turned eleven years old. Trained. And trained. My grandpa even got a real, professional coach for him. Trained him up, the gym wanted him to represent the future for them. All that junk.”

“Oh! Oh! Did someone break his knees?” Tucker asked a little too excitedly.

Tex scowled. “What? _No._ His coach was too good at his job. Too honest.”

“Oh, man. They killed his manager to send a message when they refused money–”

“Shut the fuck up, Tucker,” Tex growled. “He tattled on my dad.”

“That he was a cheater?” Tucker pressed.

“That he _wasn’t normal,”_ Tex snapped. “After all those years, after all that training and support and… Something wasn’t right. My dad was _too_ good. Too strong.” She narrowed her eyes. “Not _human._ And superheroes were all over the place – it wasn’t hard to figure out _why._ And soon enough, my dad’s real strength showed up and _BAM._ An entire lifetime, a whole fuck-ton of money wasted on a sport that superherhumans couldn’t enter fairly.”

“Sucks,” Tucker understated. 

“Yeah, it really did,” Tex responded. She exhaled thickly through her nose before shrugging. “There’s no _reason_ I’m a superhero. But what the fuck else am I supposed to do with super strength and turning invisible?” Her eyes flickered to Tucker. “Some people are just meant to be plumbers. Maybe Church is onto something about his own destiny. Just like I don’t need _directions_ from his stupid robot for mine.”

“Eh,” Tucker shrugged. “Just ignore him. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but bossing people around is just something Church feels compelled to do. I wouldn’t take it personally.”

Tex rolled her eyes. “I don’t,” she replied.

The commercial break ended and they returned to the catastrophe of the small screen. 

“Give me those,” Tex ordered as she reached for more of Tucker’s chips when the sound of shrill arguing turned into a high pitched mechanical whine. Tex flinched back and reached for her ears. “Ah, fuck!”

“This shitty television is the _worst!”_ Tucker groaned just as the screen went a light blue. “Oh, what, _now?”_

Tex squinted at the screen just as dark letters began spelling out in the middle of the screen an address, one not far away from where she and Alpha had encountered Crunchbite.

“What the hell?” she asked, moving closer to the screen. 

She watched as the next line of words spelled out _HELP_ clearly. 

Turning, Tex glared at Tucker. “What’s Church’s super power?”

“Huh?” he asked, still covering his head from the noise.

“Tucker! What is Church’s super power?” she roared.

“You guys have been making kissy faces at each other for like four months and you don’t know what each other’s super powers are? What the fuck am I? Your relationship counselor?” he asked back. As Tex rose up with a fist ready Tucker squeaked. “Ah! Shit, not my face! Sorry, geeze! It’s computer stuff. I don’t know how to explain it. It’s supposed to be cool or something, I always thought controlling techno stuff was super lame, though.”

“Son of a bitch,” she said in amazement. “It’s Church. He’s fucking with the television. He must be in trouble.”

Tucker tilted his head. “I don’t know–”

“Oh, forget it,” she growled, heading toward her locker. She ignored how Tucker followed behind her with a curious look on his face. She slung the door open, grabbed her dufflebag, and began to pull out the more than a little worn out suit she had been wearing since she first returned to Blood Gulch. “I’ll go save Church. Then kick his ass. Twice. Once for avoiding me–”

“Even though you’ve avoided him just as much,” Tucker said, amused.

“And once for trying to make our ears bleed.”

“Yeah, I have no problems with that one,” Tucker replied with a nod.

Tex waited a moment, took a breath, then glanced over her shoulder. “Tucker.”

“Yes?” he asked.

“I’m _not_ going to change in front of you even if I’m in a hurry,” Tex said pointedly. 

“Well, fuck all this noise then,” Tucker sighed and moved back toward the gym. 

Narrowing her eyes, Tex kicked off her gym shoes and then kicked them right for the back of Tucker’s head. Both elicited a hilarious cry. 

With the pervert taken care of, Tex continued to suit up, making a laundry list of things she was going to do to Church as well as whoever was responsible for the current situation.


	10. For the Hero Who Has Everything

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I said I was going to try to write a few chapters this week and I delivered a bit! I was really looking forward to introducing a few more elements and characters to the story (part of my reason for being so excited about the next batch of updates!) and was happy to finally get to this one in particular! 
> 
> Special thanks to @secretlystephaniebrown, @allabtnothin, @ashleystlawrence, @analiarvb, @the-anonymous-fangirl, @luausa, @thepheonixqueen, @washingtonstub, @peacelovestarwars, SenpaiGabby, @notatroll7, staininspace, and Yin on tumblr and AO3 for the feedback!

The truth was, finding Church filled Tex with a certain level of anxiety she was unprepared for.

He was, after all, the complete dweeb who decorated his entire room in villain merch, thought electric blue wigs were a fashion statement apparently, and who had promptly got his ass handed to him right in front of her in the community college cafeteria.

There were probably no further lows than there were for Leonard Church, and the idea of that dork, _her_ dork, suffering some unknown consequences after he had helped her track down a local gang-lord-monster-thing was, well, _dark._

So instead she imagined that she was about to save Alpha.

That made the situation not only _livable_ but somewhat hilarious in the undertone of _local nuisance nearly gets comeuppance._

She could have almost sold _tickets_ to that.

The location didn’t seem to be anything special. A building that was about as worn down and hopeless as the rest of Blood Gulch’s architecture. There were boarded up windows and a decaying satellite dish strapped above a sign screaming _ELEKTRIK WORLD ELEKTRONIKS_ and she wondered if it was from the nineties and therefore _radical_ rather than _grammatical nonsense._

But then again, considering her last venture involving Alpha, she might’ve actually needed to find the nearest manhole and start looking for the apparent captive there.

Tex sniffed the air some. There was a definite smell of a cigarette nearby. Maybe a guard on watch. Maybe just the usual Blood Gulch citizen.

The one thing for certain was that the literal least she could do was go up to the front door and “knock” first.

Stepping down from her bike and lowering the stand, Tex glanced around curiously. The smell of the cigarette was gone with only the faintest whiff left. The person had finished up or moved on.

So, without further ado, she walked straight up to the door.

“She couldn’t _possibly_ be doing what I think…” she could faintly hear from the alley nearby. 

Tex glanced its way before drawing her fist back and readying to beat through the door, literally, when she heard a choked off gasp. “For the love of – _Lady!_ You’re going to fuck up my entire night!”

Pausing, Tex turned and looked toward the alley again. Her eyes narrowed as she saw nothing. But still, she lowered her fist. “I can’t ruin your night, it’s _maybe_ midday.”

“Semantics,” the voice replied dismissively. 

“No. _Not_ semantics. Basic facts,” she argued, voice raising above her usual growl.

“Shh! Do you want people to hear you? Fuck, you’re lucky this bunch are dumber than tar,” the voice sighed. “Come over here. If you’re going to _persist,_ at least let me talk you out of getting the hostage killed.”

Thinking of Church immediately stilled Tex’s desire to rebel against the offer. She didn’t need to accidentally lead to him losing his fingers or something.

The complaining _that_ would cause would surely be unlivable.

“And, what? I just trust the mysterious bodiless voice from the alley?” she asked, folding her arms across her chest.

“I honestly don’t care what your take is on it,” he returned. “And for the record, my body’s amazing once you get to see it. Which you _might_ if you don’t get Alpha killed.”

Surprised, Tex looked around before stalking toward the alley. “You know Alpha?”

“Whoa,” he continued. “ _I_ should be asking that because _me_ knowing Alpha’s not a big deal. _You_ knowing Alpha, however, brings up some questions.”

Eyes narrowed, still more than a little suspicious of everything before her, Tex approached the alley and looked around for the source of the voice. A few steps in and it became apparent that _whoever_ it was wanted a good check out of her before he was planning on showing himself.

Unfortunately for _whoever_ , Tex was nothing if not spiteful.

She cloaked herself as she continued further into the alley, looking up, down, around, and especially toward the curiously empty dumpster as she did so.

All she got was a long whistle for her troubles.

“Invisibility! I was wondering if you had any tricks,” the voice chuckled.

“And you?” she asked. “Suppose you cloak, too?”

“Not _quite,”_ he answered before a head began to pop out from the brick straight ahead of her. 

Tex watched with curiosity as a man about her age pulled himself from the bricks, his hair the victim of far too many products to move with the finesse that his body was. He was wearing something of an atrocity that she could immediately recognize as being a team uniform, and he had one of those ridiculous visors to top it all off.

Really, though, it was the smile like he had already won a bet they didn’t have that made her convinced he was the kind of tool she’d probably – _reluctantly –_ become friends with given her Blood Gulch luck.

“I go through things. Phase through things. I don’t know what the right term for it is–” he shrugged before going rigid. His head tilted up a bit and his nostrils flared with a forceful sigh. “Uh huh. _Thanks,_ Dee.” He glanced toward Tex more meaningfully. “The quote-unquote _correct_ terminology would be the amazing duo of _phasing and intangibility_ according to my friend.”

“Does your friend have information I’m actually interested in alongside that exposition drop?” Tex asked with her brows raised. 

“Ah, so you’ve got the banter bit down at least. That’s relieving,” the Freelancer said with an appreciative nod. “You won’t _believe_ how dull these newbie team-ups get with the guys who can barely keep their hero worship on the down low.”

“Hero worship?” Tex repeated with a laugh. “Wow, buddy, the size of your head is something else, gotta tell ya.” She gave a dismissive wave up and down him. “I mean, who the hell is lining up to head _your_ fan club?”

“Ouch, brutal,” he replied with a grin that spoke to no damaged ego. “And do you really not recognize me?”

“Should I?” she asked dryly. “You just look like one of the other Freelancer tools in a team outfit.”

“Again, _ouch,”_ he laughed, though it sounded somewhat more like he meant it that time around. “For the record, wearing _that_ outfit that looks like you’ve been through a literal waste disposal, makes me question your ability to judge _any_ outfit. Though, admittedly, you _do_ seem like more of a badass at that rate. But, yeah, I am _kinda_ surprised to not be recognized if you know what Freelancer is since I’m New York.” He tilted his head. “My friends call me York.”

“I’m not your friend so I’m just going to call you _douchebag,”_ she said firmly. “By the way, I know Freelancer’s all about their _themes_ but that’s a stupid as fuck name. Just so you’re aware.”

“And what do you call yourself, stranger?” York asked.

Tex set her jaw a bit before glancing off. “Tex.”

“Wow,” he laughed. “Poser.” 

Glaring at the man, Tex gritted her teeth. “Shut the hell up or I’ll put my fist through–”

York shrugged and reached back toward the bricks he had stepped out of just before, his hand phasing through easily. “I’m not saying this to be cocky – actually, I kinda _am_ – but, _Tex,_ you couldn’t touch me.”

Giving a grin of her own, Tex tilted her head. “You would be surprised how much dedication I can put toward punching something until it’s not a problem anymore.”

“Hm,” York said, tapping on his chin. “You’ve not been the sorta hero to have too many rescues under your belt yet, have you? Because, I gotta say, that’s _not_ the kinda attitude I would take into a negotiation. Especially one involving someone who, by all acknowledgements to his character, probably has already used up what’s left of his captors’ patience.”

Tex blinked and looked toward the electronics store before glancing back to York. “You seem to know Alpha pretty well then.”

“I do, but it has nothing to do with figuring _that_ bit of information out,” York replied with nonchalance. “You could be in a room for ten minutes with Alpha and know he’s going to put his foot in his mouth at some point during all of this nonsense.”

Which was a fair assessment from what Tex knew about _both_ personas.

“I’ve been… running into Alpha a lot lately,” Tex explained. “We’re rooted in the same neighborhood. _This_ neighborhood. He sent me a message through my television screen to get here.”

York looked at her a bit surprised, but his look soon turned into pity. It almost made her try to punch him if not for the whole intangibility thing.

“I hate to break it to you, Tex, but that was a blast signal,” he explained. “Alpha’s message showed up on every screen in a five mile radius. He might’ve meant for you to see it, but he _had_ to know that he was reaching out to the rest of the lower end, too. Including–”

Wanting to kick herself, Tex looked off, lip curling in a snarl. “Freelancer headquarters,” she hissed. “After all the shit he’s been talking–”

“Yeah, I don’t know _how well_ you know Alpha, but he’s kinda full of shit,” York shrugged. “It’s cool. Don’t worry too much about it. Even _he_ had to learn _some_ amount of charm from the academy.”

There were about ten pressing questions that came to mind for Tex with that information, but none of them seemed nearly as pressing as her need to burst into the electronics store and beat some real answers out of their _apparently_ mutual friend. 

Her fists tightened until she noticed that York was doing the odd head tilt thing again and humming to something. 

“Right, okay. Thanks, Dee,” he said with a nod.

“What the fuck are you doing when you do that?” she demanded irritably.

“I’m having a telepathic conversation with my sidekick, you mind?” he asked with a smug look before tilting back. “Okay, Delta. Cool.”

Tex processed the information, particularly that involving _sidekick_ and _Delta_  in the larger context of Freelancer’s love of little name games and _Alpha_  when suddenly–

“Oh my _god,”_ she laughed to herself. “I… I will _never_ let him live this down. Holy shit.”

When Tex turned to confirm her assumption, she was surprised to see that York was no longer paying attention to her but instead leaning forward toward the wall of the electronics store – his head literally disappeared through the brick itself while he leaned against it. His fingers tapped as he leaned in, almost impatiently. 

The Freelancer pulled back and took a look back toward Tex. “Okay, Dee says we need to get moving if we don’t want this turn out bad. Unless you’re okay with sitting back and watching a professional. I get that a lot, people just wanting to watch me work since it’s such an honor and all that. I won’t think any less of you for it–”

“ _Douchebag_ , I have no interest in entertaining your fantasies of near-relevance,” she informed him. “I’m just here for Church. Tell me how you can help with that and why I shouldn’t just beat the wall down and I’ll _maybe_ reconsider trying to find a way to punch through to your lungs.”

"Again with the threats. You know, I’m starting to see how you and Alpha get along,” York noted before sizing up the wall and holding out his hands as if to measure. “I’m guessing by the fact that you _literally_ wanted to knock on the door of this place and that you keep talking about breaking things that the invisibility isn’t your go-to. You like to smash – which, by the way, is awesome. Talking about _double powered_ , we really should talk after this Alpha business is over, because those are vastly different. But either way, right now, I’m going to maybe want you to use those _smashing_ powers about…” York stepped forward and tapped on a specific brick. “Right here.”

Confused, Tex motioned toward the wall. “Now? The way you were acting you wanted us to be all cautious and nonsense.”

“Oh, I did,” York agreed. “The Director sent me because I’m a specialist in hostage situations – all about the infiltration with my powers. But see, I estimate we have about thirty seconds more to argue this since Delta just informed me they put a gun to Alpha’s head.”

 _“What!?”_ Tex roared before looking back to the wall. 

Without hesitation, she drew back her fist and flung herself through the wall of the store, what brick and drywall didn’t burst into  flying around her as she stepped through into the building. There were surprised and confused yells from a group of armed men standing toward the center of the room but they didn’t get the time to formulate any real response. 

Tex was already on them. 

It didn’t take long to press through. The jabs she gave were harder than her usual touch on patrols, she wanted to make sure these guys felt it in the morning. 

But it was the main guy in the center with his gun still trained on Church that got her real attention. 

For his part, Church looked as disgruntled as always, nose bleed and a fresh smattering of purple across his cheeks aside. It honestly didn’t look like he was anymore perturbed than any of the numerous occasions where something minor annoyed him at the cafeteria.

"About fucking time!” Church snapped.

Tex pointed at him angrily. “You shut your goddamn mouth. I’ve had about enough of you. And you’ve gotta explain _this_ asshole–” Tex began to point back toward the entrance she had just made only to be slightly stunned when York was nowhere to be seen. “That son of a–”

“ _Everyone_ shut up!” the gunman roared. “ _You_ make a move, I blow off his fucking head!” he warned to Tex before glaring at Church. “And _you!_ You piece of shit, you pull one more trick or you continue to not tell me where my _fucking money is_  and I’ll blow off your fucking head!”

She was too far back to make it in time if the itchy trigger finger on the guy got any tighter. Even two feet closer and she wouldn’t have even been considering anything but diving at the man with everything she had. 

But Church seemed utterly calm at the situation and sighed, eyes rolling back. “Okay, I’ll give you the routing number for the offshore account. For fuck’s sake. You should be _thanking_ me for showing you how stupid your security system was–”

The man snarled and held his gun closer to Church. “ _Stop_ with the shitty comments.”

“Well, I can’t comply with both _telling you info_ and _not using my witty banter,”_ he sighed exaggeratedly. “I speak _purely_ in narcissism.”

“ _Alpha!”_ Tex hissed in warning just before noticing that York was pulling himself up silently from the floor behind the gunman. 

“Hey,” York said somewhat softly, nearly making the gunman jump out of his skin. “I’ve always wanted to try this.”

York reached forward and brought his hand down hard on the man’s neck, making him seize up and drop his gun before falling back. The superhero sidestepped out of the way and allowed the man to hit the floor with a crunch. 

In return, the Freelancer just whistled.

"Well,” York said, putting his hands on his belt. “I guess you really _can_ learn something from television.”

Church’s annoyed but collected features changed immediately. What wasn’t bruised on his face became a bright red and he dropped his jaw slightly before shaking his head. “You have got to be fucking – _York!?_ What the fuck are you doing here!?” he screeched before looking to Tex accusingly. “You contacted Freelancer!? Tex, you could’ve handled this no problem! What the fuck–”

Angrily, Tex pointed at herself. “Me? _I_ didn’t tip them off. _You did._ You apparently told every electronic in the city where to come!”

He blinked and sighed before shaking his head. “Goddammit. I thought I was only sending to three locations. You mean I broadcasted _everywhere!?”_

Tex stared at him. “You’re _that_ powerful?” 

“I’m fucking amazing,” he told her plainly. “But, uh, just so we’re clear, the definition of _powerful_ is apparently _incredibly_ subjective.” He glared toward York. “And I can just take a fucking _guess_ as to what you’re doing here, asshole.”

York shrugged innocently. “Oh, come on, Alpha. He was worried about you.”

“He’s a lying bag of dicks!” Church snapped. 

“Yeah, but so are you,” York argued. “And the team is still missing a teammate.”

“I _knew_ you were here to recruit me,” he groaned.

“Well, I _was,”_ York replied before eying Tex. “But, I gotta say, you’re not exactly the associate I’m impressed with at the moment.”

Tex smirked. “Tell us more.”

Church’s eyes widened slightly and he turned his head from York to Tex and back before erratically shaking it altogether. “No. No no _no!_ Fuck no. York, you shut the fuck up. Tex is _not_ interested in Freelancer. She was barely interested in doing anything but punching people on the street level. In fact that’s all she’s interested in. She’s not going to be tricked by the team’s delusions of grandeur.”

Shrugging, York smiled easily. “What delusions? And, by the way, Tex, Freelancer? Does a _lot_ of punching. So much punching you wouldn’t know what to do with your fists anymore.”

“Hmm, _very_ interesting,” Tex feigned.

Church narrowed his eyes. “I know what you’re doing, Tex. Don’t even _fake_ being interested. Freelancer will take that and run with it until you’re their copyrighted patsy for the next century. I’m _serious!”_

“Also, _Texas_ as a codename is totally open right now,” York said with a smirk. “Oh, and Tex. Do you like sidekicks? We’ve got your sidekicks. None as awesome as my buddy Delta, but there’s this one kid that’s a lot of fun to mess with–”

“Tex!” Church’s voice hit a note that she wasn’t even sure was possible.

“Talk to me some other time,” Tex told York. “But it was fun meeting you.”

“What can I say, I’m a fun guy,” he joked before saluting her and beginning to sink through the floor. “By the way, I think you’ve got about a minute before the cops come to ask you actually _hard_ questions, Alpha. So. Have fun doing that without Freelancer covering your ass.”

“Yeah, whatever. What do you think I’ve been doing for the past _two years_ without you assholes!?” Church yelled even as nothing of York was left in the building. He ground his teeth. “I cannot _stand_ those fancy costumed douchebaa–AAH, Tex! What the fuck!”

Ignoring him, Tex grabbed the chair Church was strapped to and threw it – and _him_  – over her shoulder as she began to leave the premises. Her scowl was set without York around to keep her from displaying some _real_ outrage at everything that had happened so far. 

“You can untie me and we leave _together_ , you know!” he barked at her as he squirmed uselessly.

“Then I’d have to tie you back up for _my_ interrogation, Alpha,” she hissed. “By the way, if you can’t tell, I’m _pissed.”_

There was a deep sigh over her shoulder. “I can tell.”

“Good,” she snapped. “Because that means we can spend our time constructively. Starting with us talking about what that bastard was talking about with _stolen money.”_ Her eyes narrowed as she looked over her shoulder. “I have a suspicion that the last bit of you holding up in your apartment hasn’t been about _me_  and it hasn’t been about rebuilding your bots and it hasn’t been video games.”

Church scowled but didn’t meet her gaze. 

“That’s what I thought,” she snapped before putting him on the back of her bike. 

She could see her point was made at least well enough that she broke the binds and the chair before getting onto the bike with him and taking off. 

There were the howls of sirens closing in in the distant but neither her nor Church seemed disturbed by it as much as they were the strong agitation that had fallen between them.


	11. Fatal Attractions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I would say that Chex dialogue practically writes itself, but I only wish that was the case. I wish that was the case because then, just maybe, I wouldn’t write it as long as I always end up making it because that’s what destroys my time of release lol. But you guys seem to enjoy it so maybe it’s worth it for more Tex and Church ; ) 
> 
> Special thanks to @secretlystephaniebrown, @thepheonixqueen, @washingtonstub, @ephemeralelysium, @analiarvb, @welproosterteethownsmysoul, @notatroll7, Yin, @ashleystlawrence, @the-anonymous-fangirl, @solipsisticwanderer, a_taller_tale, and @spooky-circuits on tumblr and AO3 for the feedback!

Church was quiet which was just about the last thing Tex ever expected him to be – either as Church or as Alpha. And standing there with him just an arm’s length away in a huff and rubbing achingly at his bloodied face, she wondered if there really was any difference between the two personas.

It was hard for her to see any now that the curtain was drawn back and yet…

Church, stripped of either Alpha or just _nerdboy Church_ was something different. Something quiet and thoughtful as he examined his reddened nose and stuffed tissues up his nostrils when the bleeding continued to be relentless.

He knew how to take a hit and Tex wasn’t sure how much she appreciated that.

“Are you just going to stand there the whole time and judge me? Because if so, I’ve got better things to do with the afternoon. Like sleep. Sleep would be an excellent thing to catch up on,” he commented as he went about his business, pulling off his torn up shirt, looking at it in disappointment for its ruination, then tossing it to the trashcan.

“Are you ready to talk to me about the _truth?”_ she asked sharply. 

For a moment, he didn’t seem to acknowledge that she said anything at all. Church just grabbed the other shirt she had gotten from his room for him and pulled it over his head. When he finally took a breath and looked back to her there was an almost tiredness to his glare.

“No,” he said, which might have been the most truthful exchange between the two of them yet. 

“You’re such a piece of shit,” she growled, squeezing her biceps a bit as she remained leaned against the doorframe to the bathroom. 

“Where’s Tucker?” Church continued. 

“The gym,” Tex said plainly. “I told him to fuck off for a while until we were done here.”

Squinting her way, Church tilted his head. “How’d you manage that? You don’t have a phone.”

Tex shrugged. “Used yours.”

“How the fuck–” Church cut himself off and groaned, head leaning back a bit. “Okay. Fine. So _now_ you’ve made sure it’s just the two of us and I can’t call for backup. What sorta beating am I in for?”

Raising her brow, Tex had to ask, “What kind of backup would _Tucker_ have been?”

“Terrible backup, but it’s _still_ backup,” he argued with a tissue filled sniff. “Agh, what does everyone have against my awesome nose?” 

Moving forward, Tex couldn’t help but feel some amusement at the momentary terror Church experienced at her stalking over. He flinched back and closed his eyes just as Tex leaned over and flicked his forehead with what basically amounted to none of her strength whatsoever.

Still, Church’s whole head knocked back and he blinked his eyes open rapidly before pulling his head back up and rubbing between his eyes.

“Ow,” he hissed.

“Can you stop being a melodramatic villain for _maybe_ twenty seconds while we talk?” she asked thinly. “I hate saying shit like this, but you’re forcing my hand: _it’s important.”_

“Fine,” he spat. “But just so we’re clear, you can _ask_ things but it doesn’t mean I _answer_ them exactly.”

“And you didn’t think I was onto you with the _vague overview_ of your history,” Tex replied as she stepped back to give Church his space. “I knew the _details_ would come back and bite us both in the ass.”

“Not _us_ , just _me,”_ Church huffed angrily. He pointed an accusatory finger at her chest. “You’re _just_ like I thought you’d be once the Freelancers showed their smug faces around here!”

“Oh? And how’s that?” she asked as she narrowed her eyes.

“You _totally_ fraternized with them!” Church cried out, like it was somehow the ultimate betrayal. “You’re… _you’re a total fraternizer!”_

“What? Because I didn’t punch what’s-his-face the moment he appeared?” she asked, aiming to ignore for the moment that the thought had _absolutely_ crossed her mind when York appeared.

Church sputtered. “You punched _me_ in the face the first time we met!”

“Church, _everyone_ has punched you in the face after meeting you since the day I saw you in the cafeteria,” Tex argued. “Your face is very punchable. Believe me, I’m something of an expert in the area.”

Almost offended, Church crossed his arms and ground back on his molars. “Oh, so it’s just funny to see good ol’ Alpha and Church getting their teeth knocked in.”

“No,” Tex said without missing a beat. “I’ll be honest, seeing other people put a hand on you sets me off into a bit of a rage. _Verbally_ dressing you down is hysterical. The whole dangerous hostage at gunpoint stuff _just about_ made me unleash a bit unhealthily on your friends today.”

For a moment, the air stilted. Church looked at her, eyes a bit wide. He worked his jaw a bit as if he was trying to find the right words but faltering.

Which was an achievement unto itself.

“I… _what?”_ he said a bit breathless.

“I’m pissed because you scared the shit out of me, _Mister Genius,”_ she spelled out for him. “And I think you at _least_ owe me enough to let me know what the fuck those guys wanted from you. Especially since you’ve been angry and avoiding me ever since we had our little sewage romance moment.”

“I could explain why I’ve been avoiding you pretty easily by just saying _you refer to it as a sewage romance moment_ rather than something like a _first kiss,”_ he said plainly.

"You could,” Tex agreed. “But it wouldn’t the whole truth.” She looked him more seriously in the eyes. “Why were they after you, Church? What have you been up to?”

Far more hesitant with his answers than she was with her questions, Church sighed and looked off, his hand rubbing at the back of his neck.

“Computers are my specialty,” he explained rather lamely.

“What a shocking revelation,” she replied sarcastically. “Come on, Church.”

“Would you be patient for like five seconds? For fuck’s sake, Allison,” he groaned. “Okay. You’re right. Not a big surprise for either the dashing Alpha _or_ the illusive Leonard Church.”

Tex couldn’t help but roll her eyes. “Oh, please.”

“I’m good with computers. Computers are just _what I do_ , and the fact is, yeah. I was pretty pissed about the stuff in the sewer and with you dashing in with absolutely _no_ contingency plans for Crunchbite,” Church admitted with a sigh. “But more than _any_ of that… It gave me an idea.”

He gave a forceful sigh and fell back to sit on the lid of the toilet, his eyes focusing on the sink top as he ran his fingers over it. There was a clear line of disgust he had at the countertop, which made Tex wonder how someone with such tastes could _ever_ live with perhaps the tackiest man she had ever met.

“Let’s be up front, giving me ideas is _not_ the most novel of things,” Church continued. “I’m bragging, but it’s also true: I’m a goddamn genius. An artist of knowledge and tech.”

“So humble, too,” Tex joked.

“Look, it doesn’t pay to be humble,” he advised her. “Point is, working with you to find Crunchbite and the Blood Gulch underground? Reminded me of how much dirty business criminals have to do going through the web. How much of that is even only possible because criminals have a lot more to gain at being tech savvy than the police do.” He smirked darkly. “So they wouldn’t be expecting to be attacked by someone outdoing even them.”

She quietly allowed the statement to fully sink in. Tex rolled it over in her mind before taking a heralding breath and glaring directly back at Church. 

“You’re stealing from criminals,” she said. “You’re taking their money electronically right from under their noses.”

Church gave something of an impish smile as he shrugged. “Stealing from cash registers was never going to get me close to the whole _Bring a Whole New World Order_ thing anyway. It was time to step up the game.”

“You’re taking from bad guys in order to _fund_ being a bad guy?” she asked incredulously.

“I’m not _bad,”_ he argued. “I’m morally superior. I’ve seen the system for what it is and I know it doesn’t work so I’m going to uproot it and establish a new world of order, peace, and freedom.” He paused for a blink and then motioned toward his chest. “Under me. Because I know what I’m doing and no one els does.”

Tex scowled. “So why not just become a politician?” 

“I just told you! I have morals, I’m fundamentally disqualified,” he replied with a note of seriousness that was only somewhat worrisome. 

Not buying it, Tex closed in on Church, bending over to meet him eye to eye. “I don’t buy it,” she informed him darkly.

“What’s there to buy?” he demanded. “Just admit it, Tex. You’re charmed by the bad side.”

“Mm, no,” she said. “You’re not as complicated of a man as you like to pretend, Leonard Church. I can see through you and you know what questions _that_ begs?” She narrowed her eyes nearly to slits as she leaned in even closer. “I think you have as much control and understanding of your powers as possible, you were in the academy and trained until just two years ago by your own words. You _knew_ that you were sending a signal out that Freelancer could get, too. So either you didn’t trust me or you knew that someone at the Superheroes Losers Club knew enough about you to not arrest you on spot. Which means you’re not _nearly_ as bad as you think you are.”

Squaring his jaw, Church snarled, “I would never go running to the Freelancers for help! They’re all douchebags.”

“So it’s just because you didn’t think I could get you out of it?” Tex demanded. 

Caught off guard, Church straightened up. “What? _No!_ Of course not–”

“You know, you’re a _real_ piece of work,” Tex laughed, standing up and backing toward the door again. “All this time trying to _shame me_  for not being a hero living up to my potential, calling me shit like _Gutter Slugger_ like dealing with lower end criminals is somehow a lesser duty, trying to act like you’re captain of my personal fan club. And for _what_ , Church? When your own life’s at risk you’d send out a signal for _anybody_ to get because trusting me is just impossible.”

“That’s not what happened!” he yelled before freezing up at his own volume. With a heavy sigh, Church ran a hand over his head. “Look. Okay. I’m an asshole. No one will tell you that quicker than me, I can guarantee you.”

“I will tell people you’re an asshole _decades_ before you get around to it,” Tex corrected.

Despite himself, Church allowed a curl to his lips at that. “Yeah. I know you would,” he agreed. Pushing up with the sink’s counter, Church stood to face her fully. The purpling of the bruises was worse but there was a more solid calmness to his eyes. “You? You’re worth _a hundred_ of any of the superheroes at Freelancer. And I would know. They were wanting to use me to be one of their best.”

Tex studied Church carefully. “Then why contact them?”

“Because I figured you’d know better than anyone that I tend to get _myself_ into these situations,” he said with a wave to his blackening eye. “I wasn’t sure what your personal protocol was for saving damsels in distress.”

“Is that what you’re going to be for me?” Tex asked. “Because I’ll admit right now, I have _very_ limited patience for that stuff.”

“God, I hope not,” Church laughed. “Today _sucked._ Royally.”

Still not completely satisfied, Tex tilted her head. “You _did_ contact Freelancer, though.”

He glanced off but gave a subtle nod. “I just… wasn’t _quite_ ready to die.”

“You were pretty calm about it,” Tex laughed. “Could’ve fooled me.”

Church joined the laughter and met her eyes again. “You sure as hell wasn’t. Your face when he said he was going to blow my fucking head off if you moved. Oh my god. Priceless.”

“Hey, fuck off,” she snapped back. “Show me to give a rat’s ass about you. And what do you know? Maybe I was just trying to show off for Freelancer.”

“Pfft,” Church hand waved. “I don’t believe that for a second. I mean, _especially_  for York. So not your type. Dashing douchebag and all.”

“As opposed to you?” Tex asked with a raise of her brow.

For a moment, Church considered her words, head ducking slightly when his ears became pink. “I’m…” He coughed into his fist. “I mean, of _course_  I’m dashing. I just meant you and I have history. And understanding. And mutual… _ness._ Stuff York’s not going to get with you because he’s not–”

“Stealing from criminals to fund an evil empire,” Tex surmised. 

“Well, _that we know of,”_ Church replied cheekily. He then looked at her with a sigh. “Let me guess. I have to give up stealing from criminals.”

Tex hummed before tilting her head. “Mm. No.”

Blinking, Church looked like a deer in headlights. “What? _No?”_

“I’m not going to make you stop,” she clarified. “But I _am_ going to make you do this right. And that’s by working through me first, Alpha. You’re not a mastermind criminal _yet._ You can’t hold up a pastry store properly.”

“Hey!” he stammered with no proper defense. 

"So I say, _why not do this right?”_ she asked, crossing her arms. “I might not be _Freelancer_ material exactly, but maybe I _liked_ going after a bigger face to punch with Crunchbite. I might be willing to expand my interests in teamwork.”

He continued to stare at her for a long pause before squinting. “You’re kidding.”

“Do I look like it?” she asked. 

Church pursed his lips, considering the offer and presumedly attempting to work out any possible litigations he was overlooking. He even put a hand to his chin and began humming to his thoughts as if they meant something. 

“Yes or no, Church, come _on,”_ Tex groaned with a roll of her eyes. 

Steepling his fingers, Church looked at Tex seriously. “I just have to know one thing before we decide to do this,” he said.

“What?” she asked with an eye roll.

There was still a certain rosiness to his ears as he said, “Is it possible we could kiss places outside of the sewers?”

Not expecting the sincerity in his concern, Tex couldn’t help but burst out in laughter right in front of Church. 

Turning blood red, Church’s shoulders rose up and he squeaked out, “H-hey! Fuck off!” 

There was nothing dignified about the noise he made when Tex suddenly grabbed his wrist and pulled him toward her. For someone who was unprepared for a kiss, Church moved with it impeccably fast and even wrenched a hand up and onto the back of Tex’s head. 

It was fun. It was _something_. And Tex was all too amused as she pulled away and smirked at Church, knocking him over the head lightly with her palm.

“I have to patrol,” she informed him. “I’ll crash here tonight when I’m done. That work for you?”

With the voiceless whine that came out of Church’s throat as Tex backed away and went toward the hall, she felt it was safe to assume that none of his faculties were exactly working for him. But he literally slapped himself in the face only to wince at the already-there bruise before he took off after her. 

“Y-yeah! I mean. You _have_ to come back. Y’know. For my answer, because I’m considering the options and all that,” he rambled as she headed for the living room’s window. 

She crouched on the window’s ledge before looking her shoulder at him. Tex couldn’t help but give a gleeful grin at the complete look of being flustered that befell Church’s features.

“Try not to get kidnapped while I’m out,” she advised. 

“Yeah, well, _you_ try not to fraternize with the _real_ enemy while you’re out!” he yelled back. There was an unmistakable redness to his cheeks. “And, _by the by,_ kissing someone over the toilet their roommate pukes in every weekend isn’t that much more romantic than a sewer kiss.”

“We’ll have to find a better place next time,” she joked before slipping out the window. 

She was already scaling the fire escape and heading toward the rooftop but she could still hear the near-hysterical, overjoyed cry of “ _Next time! There’s a next time!_ ”

Planting her feet on the rooftop, Tex considered the skyline and tried to sort out the best direction for her patrol to start. All the while, her blood was pounding in her ears and she wondered just what the hell she was doing.

A sizable chunk of her was still pissed at Church, pissed at everything that had been the situation and yet. Yet the rest of her – hell, maybe even _that chunk_ – was never more enthralled by everything that was happening between them. 

It was the kind of joyful irritation of Alpha with that hint of _what a dork_ Church gave off. 

She narrowed her eyes and pouted slightly. “He’s going to be the death of me,” she decided before pursing her lips. “Or maybe the other way around. His _cute dork_ factor is bound to run out soon.”

Her mind was jostling between the confusion of her and Church along with the decision of where to start for patrol when, as if on a cue, there was a flash of blue in the distance, more than three buildings over, followed by a crackling sound and a boom.

Tex flinched at the disturbance, looking the flash’s way just as the light disappeared and the street erupted in car alarms and surprised shouting. 

“Well, guess _one_ decision is made up for me,” she mused before racing across the rooftops.

Thoughts of Church and Freelancer and the such were easy to stowaway in the wake of a genuine mystery. And the prospect of something, _anything_ opening itself for being her punching back for the day was more than welcome.

At the last building, Tex descended easily, dropping from the ledge to a few ledges before hitting the sidewalk with practiced ease. 

People were gathering around, enough so that her entrance barely left any impact. But no one was nearing the center of the street where cars and debris had visibly shifted off the road and slightly onto the sidewalk or into each other in the wake of _whatever_ had made the disturbance. 

She stared among the people, looking over their heads and seeing in surprise that halfway down the road, a thick black streak raced down the median, literal flares of smoke and flame shaking in the wind of it. 

Tex glanced over it then looked down the road. 

The trail petered out, but whatever made it was no longer there. 

Then, because she had seen _Back to the Future_ a few times, she glanced toward the power lines only to be _highly_ disappointed that everything looked intact. 

“I guess Blood Gulch didn’t have _enough_ mysteries going on,” she huffed. 


	12. Once a Thief

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I’ve been updating even more than usual, so I just want to thank all of you so very, very much for putting up with my silliness because honestly I’ve just had a blast with the story, and loving seeing all of your guys’ reactions. But we’re at the midpoint and some things are going to start changing and I hope we’re all ready for the loop it’ll take us for!
> 
> Special thanks to @thepheonixqueen, @leonerdchurch, @washingtonstub, @secretlystephaniebrown, Zambo, Yin, @spooky-circuits, @a-taller-tale, staininspace, @analiarvb, @notatroll7, @ashleystlawrence, and @lunausa on tumblr and AO3 for the feedback!

The look on Tucker’s face when he opened the door was nothing short of irritation. Which wasn’t a _complete_ surprise considering it was Tucker and his ability to hide his emotions was nonexistent at _best_ , but it was still rather unexpected since Tex had at least bothered to be holding a few bags of takeout with her that time around. 

And if he had had any problem with her spending more nights _at_ their apartment than not, he sure as hell hadn’t mentioned it in the last few weeks. 

“You look like you’re smelling pure petrol,” she told him. “What? Don’t like orange chicken?”

“I love orange chicken,” he said, finally opening the door a bit more. “Just… you’re not Church.”

Tex sucked in a deep breath and pushed her way through the door to head toward the table and begin setting out the takeout. “Usually, Tucker, I would take that as a very high compliment. I do my best to _not_ be Church on most days. I think I’m rather successful at it,” she joked before glancing over her shoulder. 

Tucker remained at the door for a second, a worried line forcing its way across his brow before he shut the door.

“What’s with you?” she demanded, grabbing a set of plastic cutlery to start digging into her own rice box. “I got you some if you’re hungry.”

“That’s not it,” he huffed. “I just hate it when I don’t know what Church is up to these days.” Tucker finally turned and faced her completely, waving a finger in her direction. “You’re not much better.”

“What? Why worry about Church?” she asked. “He’s not sending out stupid robots to rob places anymore. That’s a vast improvement over a few months ago and you didn’t have to worry about him then.”

“Yeah, he wasn’t kidnapped by some assholes before he was doing _good things_ with you on the hero side,” Tucker grumped before sitting by Tex at the table. He looked over the meal set before them and waved his hands emphatically. “And what the fuck! Did you get a job when I wasn’t paying attention? How the hell are you paying for all _this_ shit?”

Tex raised a brow at him and shoveled food in her mouth before answering, “I got the money from Church.”

For reasons beyond Tex’s understanding, that seemed to only fluster Tucker more. “Now I’m _really_ curious because _holy fuck_ I know he’s not getting that from the stupid cafeteria! He takes less hours than me!” he growled.

Taking sympathy on the money struggles, Tex pushed the box of orange chicken his way. Tucker grabbed it and looked into the box before scrunching his face in thought. 

“Isn’t this Church’s?” he asked, knowing his roommates’ appetite better than Tex ever could. 

She smirked back at him. “Does it look like Church is here right now?” 

“Fuck no it doesn’t!” Tucker cackled before grabbing a plastic spork and beginning to dig in. “Okay, I take it back. Whatever’s keeping Church away for now can keep him a little longer.”

Amused, Tex continued eating herself, but the worry still clung to the back of her mind as she watched Tucker dive into the food with gusto. He definitely had a point – there was something _odd_ about Church not being at the apartment when Tex was bound to show up. 

In fact, over the last few weeks, Church seemed to completely book his schedule around her. For better or worse. 

“Tucker,” she said, stirring her rice idly. 

“Mmhmm?” he asked with a mouth full as he reached for the box of lo mein. 

“Church tells you everything, right?” she asked. “Definitely things he wouldn’t tell me. Like about Freelancer and stuff he does. I mean, he trusted you with knowing he was a super villain for fuck’s sake.”

Tucker blinked a few times before shrugging. “Yeah?”

Lowering her food and utensils, Tex looked seriously into Tucker’s eyes. “What does he tell you about what he does now? What he does with me?”

For a moment, Tucker seemed determined to methodically chew the food in his mouth before he finally put his spork and box down on the table. He leaned in on his elbows and, very seriously, looked Tex in the eyes as he said, “He doesn’t tell me anything I’m not already hearing from the room right across the hall. _Bow Chicka Bow Wow–”_

There was something to be said for the fact that Tucker was ducking before Tex ever finished grabbing her cup to throw at his head. It still made its mark to Tucker’s continuing laughter. 

“No, seriously, though, can you tell Church to like… tone it down a _little?”_ Tucker asked. “Like. There’s only so many times a guy’s furious masturbating in his own room can get interrupted by his roommate in the other room before it causes some unnecessary tension in the apartment.”

“Everything you’re saying is causing unnecessary tension in my brain,” Tex informed him. “No, really. I’m thinking of throwing you out a window right now.”

“You won’t, though,” he said firmly with a grin. “Who would you watch shitty television shows with? Not Church. He can’t pay attention to one thing for ten minutes, let alone _twenty.”_ He waggled his eyebrows. “Guess that’s why he always finishes first– _OW, FUCK, TEX!”_

To be fair, she _had_ forgotten she was still wearing her bike boots when she unleashed all hell on Tucker’s shins under the table. 

“I’m trying to have a conversation with you, fuckwad,” she snapped all the same. “I’m worried about Church, too. Can _you_ pay attention for more than ten minutes so we can get somewhere with this?”

“ _Fuck_ ,” Tucker seethed, pulling his feet up into his seat so he could gingerly run his hands over his shins. “Fine, whatever. What best friend secrets am I exposing for this exposé?”

“He’s doing the reclusive thing again, where he’s probably doing stuff _without_ me,” Tex explained. “Has he mentioned doing work on the side?”

Still rubbing at his shins, Tucker gave a half shrug at the question. “I don’t know.”

“That’s not how exposés work, Tucker,” she warned.

“I’m _telling_ you, if he is then it’s not been anything he’s mentioned to me,” Tucker clarified. “He says he’s doing the same as he always is!”

Tex put a lot of meaning behind the way she raised her eyebrow to that. 

Tucker blinked in response. “Fucking you and stealing from bad guys.”

“What have I told you about saying that?” she snapped.

“Oh, right,” Tucker said, finally dropping his feet back to the floor. “ _You’re_ fucking him. Sorry. The order’s important.”

“Damn straight it is,” Tex replied, somewhat satisfied before glancing toward her food. Her appetite had greatly diminished in the mystery of Church. “Hm. If he’s not doing anything _new_ … then something he’s already doing is taking up all his time now.”

“Or something _doing him,”_ Tucker snickered. “Bow chicka bow wow.”

She didn’t even look his way as she reached over the table and pushed Tucker’s forehead, making the man let out a short wail before his chair tipped back. She smirked as he got the balance of his chair back beneath him at the last minute. 

There was a lot to still be concerned about, but Tex was tempted to let it slide at least until the end of her meal when, as if on cue, there was a familiar tone calling through the air. 

Both Tex and Tucker knowingly turned their gazes to his hoodie’s pocket as it vibrated and rang, the lights blearily showing through the fabric. 

“Speak of the devil,” Tucker said, pulling the phone out before immediately scowling. “What!? You son of a bitch, Church! I _hate_ it when you do this!”

Tex slowly came to her feet, eyes narrowed as Tucker looked at the blue screen of death Church had sent to his phone. _That_ had become a sign that Tex was _far_ more familiar with than she would have liked. 

“During _dinner_ , Church?” she growled in aggravation. 

“I can never use my phone after he does this!” Tucker continued complaining. “Why can’t he do something normal!?”

Not giving the question much consideration, Tex ducked around Tucker and the table. She made a beeline for Church’s room, ignoring that the door smacking into the wall caused a few figurines on the nearby shelf to fall down. Her attention honed in on the computer instead. 

As always, Church’s message directly to Tucker’s phone zapped it, but it was a _great_ indicator that they needed to check for his real message on his personal computer. 

The personal computer that was glowing Church’s haunting light blue and blaring in black blocked letters an address on the corner of Fifth of BGC and Warthog. 

She was grabbing her duffle from the floor and heading back out before Tucker had even gotten to Church’s room. 

“See? _Now_ I have reason to worry,” Tucker groaned with hand smacking his forehead. 

“Yeah, be _really_ worried,” Tex told him, grabbing the sunglasses from the bag’s outside pocket. “Because when I get a hold of the little shithead I’m going to absolutely destroy him.”

If Tucker found the comment tactless or funny, Tex couldn’t hear. Her own head was buzzing and her speed picking up once she left the apartment and tore down toward the street level. 

This was to be the third time since her and Church’s official partnership that he was compromised. And Tex was beginning to wonder if perhaps he was just fucking with her at that point.

While not much of what York had said to her before bothered her all that much – really, she hadn’t given it much thought beyond annoying Church – his evaluation of her wardrobe had given her pause more than once. And it was doing so yet again when she came to a stop just outside the address Church had delivered for her via electronic invasion. 

Opening her duffle bag was never pleasant, but pulling out the ripped and tattered remnants of her leather suit was growing increasingly more depressing as the days went on. 

Her fingers ran over one hole too many before she shook herself back to her senses, quickly pulled the rest of her costume on, and headed indoors for Church.

A _second_ bit of advice from the Freelancer also rang true: she was _somewhat_ more stealthy with the risk of Church in bodily harm. 

Invisibly, Tex ran through the decrepit building. 

It wasn’t empty and it wasn’t guarded. There were a mess of people loitering in the obnoxious glow if half broken lighting displays, a thick smell of smoke and sweat clinging to the lower levels as people sat miserably to themselves. 

Tex narrowed her eyes at the display and almost soundlessly made her way up the stairs. 

No one looked her way even once. 

Her mind ran over the list of people Church had been tracking for her in the past weeks. There were drug dealers on the list, of course, but not many. And Tex’s own patrols had mostly ended in her punching but ultimately not calling the police on the low level dealers on the streets.

Church had some sort of plan and was more interested in documenting where the drug deals took place than he was in her getting rid of everyone. 

As she got closer to the noise on the upper floors, Tex began to wonder why she hadn’t questioned his motives more.

The floors creaked more on the upper floor, but the voices were so loud and booming from the door ahead that Tex hardly thought it mattered. 

She stalked forward, listening to the walls vibrate at the series of clicks and growls. They weren’t human and _more_ than a little familiar so it didn’t take too many leaps in logic for her to surmise that at least one body on the other side of that door was their old sewer buddy Crunchbite.

When the inhuman noises paused, there was a collective breath. Tex pressed against the wall by the door and listened. 

“Crunchbite says that he’s _not_ very amused with the funds missing from his accounts,” a strong voice interpreted on the other side of the wall. “He says that it’s _one_ thing to be taken out by some two-bit superhero type making a name for themselves in these slums, but it’s another for _competition_ to be cannibalizing the market here. Hear what we’re saying?”

Tex collected herself, cracking her knuckles as she huddled by the door. 

A good chunk of her person was ready to just tear the wall down and start throwing punches. Another sizable chunk had some reservations not knowing what Church was being threatened with and by just _how many_ people he was being threatened.

Some third piece, one she pushed out of her mind every time it attempted to rear its ugly, insignificant head, knew that her wounds had long since healed, but that her shoulder still remembered what it felt like to take on this Crunchbite head on. 

If she was going to approach the situation in _any_ way, she had to approach it _smartly._

And Tex hated that so much it made her want to spit. 

“I don’t hear much of anything,” Church’s voice finally sighed. “You? Yes, _kind of._ But it’s annoying, and I have a _really_ hard time listening to things that _really_ annoy me. So congratulations on that. And as for your boss… well, it’s not going to be the shocking revelation of the day to tell you guys _no one_ has any idea what his snorting and snarling means– _AHHHH!”_

Eyes widened, Tex thought fast and took her elbow to the wall behind her hard enough to dent the drywall. The thud and crack loud enough that the room on the other side went silent, even as Tex moved to the wall on the other side of the door and flattened just before gunfire shot up the wall she had been at. 

Her heart pounded a bit, watching as the dust cleared and the room’s door flew open to let out four armed men. 

They all look confusedly toward the hall, seeing nothing despite Tex being right there.

She hated to think it, but York might have had a point about sneaking and subterfuge after all.

Tex watched carefully at how the wood floor bowed beneath the men’s feet and, slowly, began to build an idea of what to do next. 

The creaking continued and Tex pulled off one of her boots to throw further down the hall where the creaking had been at its worst for her before. The moment it left her hands, the boot returned to visibility but the gunmen didn’t even notice it until they heard the clunking of it falling down the stairs.

Almost in a panic, the group ran toward the noise and Tex got to her knees fast enough to punch the floor boards behind them.

There was a cacophony of guttural noises from the group before the floor peeled away under their weight. The creaking of the floor turned into a screeching of wood and metal just before the gunmen fell through.

Leaving Tex with just enough time to barrel roll through the door they had gone through, turning visible as she got to her now unevenly placed feet. 

Church blinked at her with absolutely _no_ signs of appreciation on his face, tied in a chain and held three feet above the ground by their ugly, old friend. 

His wig was barely hanging on. 

“What, no thank you?” Tex snapped. 

“What? Do I look rescued to you yet?” he snapped back.

Shoulders raised high, Crunchbite took a grueling step forward, snarling and waving Church like a rag doll as he snapped his multiple jaws at Tex. His black eyes blinked. 

“Blargh!” he breathed into Tex’s face from several feet away.

“You know, the more time we spend together, the more _ridiculous_ I realize you sound,” Tex snarked.

“Can. We. Not. Push. It!?” Church blabbed between full body shakes from Crunchbite. 

“No, I think I _should_ be pushing it,” Tex snapped back, taking a step further into the room. “Because I’m sick of dealing with loose ends! I shouldn’t have to punch the same perp more than once, Alpha. And because of _your_ recommendations, that’s all I seem to be doing lately, and I think I finally understand why.” Tex grinned darkly at Crunchbite before pointing at him. “You,” she threw her thumb to her chest. “Me. Rematch. Right the fuck now.”

Crunchbite stared at her before letting out a long, hissing laughter, _blarghs_ and _honks_ chattering between his rows of teeth as his free hand waved emphatically to her shitty costume and the fact that she was missing her other boot. 

“What? You _scared?”_ she asked. “Alpha’s my partner. Whatever he’s taken from you, I have access to. I can get you what you want, but I want you to beat me in a fight first.”

The creature blinked again before looking suspiciously to Church. 

Church went completely rigid, as if he could see the gears turning in Crunchbite’s head. “Oh, fuck! No! I’m totally useful – she’s lying! She doesn’t have access to the bank accounts, I swear to fucking–”

In an instant, Tex could feel a cold splash wash over her as she realized what she had just done and watched from across the room as Crunchbite grabbed for Church’s neck with his free hand. 

Before Crunchbite could wring Church’s neck, Tex relied on impulse – impulse honed in by months and months of taking aggression out on Tucker’s stupid comments – and kicked her booted foot as fast and hard as she could.

Crunchbite was clocked right in the side of the head by her biker boot, taken by surprise. And Tex used the momentary confusion to dive into him with everything she had. 

Going for the monster’s knees, Tex rolled with him into the floor, their bodies colliding with the wall as Church was dropped with a painful smack to the floor. 

When he was back to his senses, Crunchbite snarled and clawed for Tex, giving her enough time to evade but her already tattered jacket wasn’t. 

As Crunchbite rolled, Tex clung to his shoulders, swinging her way onto his back and grabbing his lower mandibles from behind, retching them back to the tune of the monster’s howls of pain. 

“Everyone thinks I’m all punch and no brains, well _guess what,”_ she hissed against the scales of his head. “I learned to play a little smarter since last time, Assmunch. And what I learned is that I don’t necessarily need a _punch_ to make someone hurt.” She glared Church’s way as he looked hers. “Sometimes you just gotta take the rug out from under their feet.”

Church set his jaw but didn’t add anything.

Tex returned to glaring into Crunchbite’s dark eyes. “And sometimes you just gotta realize their mouths are the least protected parts of their bodies and probably really, _really_ don’t like to bend certain ways. Right?”

She pulled harder and the monster snarled and squealed before lowering his head weakly. 

“Alpha’s a piece of shit, I’ll straighten him out,” she promised. “But you’re going to stay here until the police come to check on all the commotion that’s been happening in this supposedly abandoned building.”

Immediately, the creature moved to protest but Tex freed his mandibles just before slamming her hands against the sides of his head, right on the jawlines. 

The behemoth sank to the floor with a long groan, making the already unsteady structure of the building waver but, thankfully, not completely give way. Tex sunk to her knees, kneeling on the monster’s back and caught her breath in the tense moments after he was proven to be unconscious.

She then turned her rather vicious gaze on Church. 

He was still struggling with the restraints drawn taut around his body until he noticed her looming figure approaching him. 

“So, I know I said I didn’t want you to have to save me all the time–”

“You’re a _real_ bastard, Church,” she said, chin tilting up. 

“What? What the fuck are you talking about?” he asked, looking genuinely at a loss. 

“Are you using me?” she asked plainly. 

“What? I would _never_ use you! What are you _talking about?”_ he continued, sounding more hysteric even as he managed to wiggle enough to upright himself

“All that junk about _going after bigger criminals, leaving the little guy,”_ she said, running a hand through her hair. “Were you just tricking me to take the big guys out so _you_ could take over their money and businesses, Church? Is that all this has been?” 

Church’s mouth opened slightly, aghast, but words didn’t come out.

And when Church couldn’t think of _words_ , that was usually a problem.

“All that bullshit about me being a better hero… It wasn’t real,” she laughed. And, in a sick, stomach twisting way, it was a relief. It was a _relief_ to not have that mounting pressure. 

And yet she felt like she needed to throw up all the same. 

“You didn’t believe in me.”

“Stop stop _stop!”_ Church finally cried out, almost sounding hysterical himself. “This is a big misunderstanding – _Tex!_ I could never… I would never–”

“Do you realize how little I can believe anything out of your mouth?” she asked. 

“ _Listen_ to me!” Church begged. “I would _never_ use you just to make money on some shitty banking scheme, Tex! I was just… I was just making some profit on the side! It just kinda occurred to me that we could–”

“No _we,_ Church,” Tex snapped. “Hell, this partnership isn’t even official is it? I mean, you never _really_ gave me an answer. So it wouldn’t _really_ be betrayal when you stab me in the back after you’ve used me enough for your _villainous ways.”_

“I’m not _that_ kind of villain!” Church growled. “I’m trying to change things! I’m just. I’m not–”

Tex stomped over to Church, shutting him up as she dwarfed him in her shadow. She leered at him before grabbing the top of the chains binding him and ripped them apart on the power of her fury alone. 

“You better walk home before the police get here. And find a way that isn’t the stairs, they’re not available anymore,” Tex snapped as she turned to leave.

“Tex! Wait, please–”

She didn’t look back as she jumped out the window and landed with a satisfying crunch on the outside pavement. She stood beside her bike just long enough let out a roar and punched the light pole hard enough for it to bend around her fist.

“We are!” Church’s voice still carried from the window above. “We’re partners, Tex! Let me explain!” 

Not able to take another word of it, Tex jumped on her bike and took off, ignoring the way the pavement of Blood Gulch was still mysteriously scorched from the night weeks ago. 


	13. All-Star Freelancer

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I’ve been updating even more than usual, so I just want to thank all of you so very, very much for putting up with my silliness because honestly I’ve just had a blast with the story, and loving seeing all of your guys’ reactions. But we’re at the midpoint and some things are going to start changing and I hope we’re all ready for the loop it’ll take us for!
> 
> Special thanks to @secretlystephaniebrown, @ashleystlawrence, @thepheonixqueen, @analiarvb, @i-stole-orions-heart, @washingtonstub, Zambo, @notatroll7, staininspace, @spooky-circuits, Yin, SoDoLaFaMiDoRe, @a-taller-tale, ms-aqua-marvel, and @the-anonymous-fangirl on tumblr and AO3 for the feedback!

Every day in the weeks that followed since she had last seen Church was a bad day. 

And if Tex was having a bad day, every criminal that passed her path in that time was having a _worse_ day. Which was fine by her, even if the sloppy seconds of being a superhero on the warpath felt bittersweet.

That was something she could actually work up the nerve to hate Church for in her anger. 

Her so-called _gutter slugging_ had never once felt lowly or demeaning in the past, but since Church and his delusions of grandeur for them both, that satisfaction had been stolen from her. Ripped right from her chest and crumpled. 

The police came for another round of two-bit criminals she took off the street with her own fists but Tex was left sitting in the distance on her bike wondering when’s the last time she had a fantastic meal for free, pocket full of money that no more belonged to her than it had from the goons she’d knocked out for it. 

Crime might not have paid, but superheroing didn’t really pay either. 

Not in cash, and not in pleasure anymore.

“Fuck Church,” she seethed before throwing on her helmet haphazardly and driving off like a bat out of hell.

She needed something _more,_ and she would have _never_ dreamed of something more before. 

So she drove on patrol, rumbling along on the roads of Blood Gulch as far away from the gym and the community college and Church’s shitty apartment as she could get, edging toward the outskirts of the better parts of the city, flirting with the skyscrapers and benefits of the financial and shopping districts until she heard a distinct and glorious _THOOM._

Tex’s heart felt almost uplifted to the sounds of massive damage and citizens screaming. Her smile spreading across her face. 

“Sounds like someone started a party without me,” she said with a rev of her bike before zipping straight toward the damage and action just outside the streets of Blood Gulch.

The monster was something hideous, all full of rows of teeth that made no sense and tentacles that begged more questions than provided answers about the towering beast’s anatomy. 

And, what’s more, there seemed to already be some sort of engagement with the monster from the street levels. 

Squinting some, Tex made out the flashy uniforms of at least four heroes, moving out of the way as a thick tentacle came crashing down between them all. There was shouting and a blur of color that raced back and forth between the scattered heroes before they began to move out once again, continuing to attack the monster.

Tex pulled around enough to watch the desperate attempts at containment for a long minute, watching as blasts of energy and light crossing back and forth between the groups and the monster itself. It was hard to even make out what was coming from _who_. 

“Hey.”

Recognizing the voice, Tex turned enough to see over her shoulder as York stepped through a car to come toward her. He seemed no worse for wear, though that might quickly change given the very visible desire he had to mention _something_ about the state of her costume.

“So _this_ is the mighty Freelancers in action?” Tex asked, voice full of amusement as they both glanced toward the scene. “Getting your asses handed to you by some Cthulu-looking motherfucker?”

“Hey, now,” York shrugged as he came up alongside her. “Go easy on us. We’re letting the kids try out in the field.”

Tex watched as one costumed hero nearly didn’t manage to leap out of the way fast enough while throwing what looked like knives at the beast. She flinched at the crack in the road formed by the monster that _would_ have been the guy. “Is that wise?”

"Well, you wouldn’t think so,” York said with a nod toward the blur rushing around the team and the monster all at once. “But I guess you could say we recently went under new management and they’re working very hard to prove their quick advancement through the ranks.”

Tex looked toward the nonsense happening in the streets, watching the street lights be knocked over in the wild attempts of the creature to swat at the zipping by aqua blur. 

With an amused huff, Tex crossed her arms and sat back on her bike. “Who? The speedster?”

“The speedster,” York answered. “Of course, I _would_ say that you’d know that if you paid attention to the news at all. But… given I haven’t been hearing much from Blood Gulch in the way of criminal activity, maybe you and your partner have been too busy to watch news stations.”

Feeling her face tighten up, Tex exhaled angrily through her nose. 

“I work alone,” she corrected him.

York didn’t even have the decency to act surprised. “So Alpha eventually proved to be too much _Alpha_ , huh? Well. Can’t say I didn’t see it coming.” 

The nonchalance in York’s voice made Tex more irate than she had been since the night she saved Alpha himself, her shoulder hiking high and teeth gritting back. York should have at least _pretended_ to have some surprise. Like _anyone_ but Tex could have seen the dork for what he truly was. 

He thought _he_ knew Church when he didn’t even realize Alpha was a _villain?_

“Hate that for you,” York continued, apparently incapable of reading the air. “But have you given what I said last time any more thought? Our new gracious leader happened to _not_ take the name Texas.”

“I work alone,” she gritted out. 

“Alpha burned you _that_ bad, huh?” York said with a click of his tongue against his teeth. “Man, that guy.”

"This has _nothing_ to do with Alpha,” she snapped venomously at him, enough so that York even raised up his hands up. “There was a misunderstanding last time we met. I work with _no one._ I’m my own hero. I was before him. I was when he was pestering me endlessly. And I sure as hell still am now that he’s too busy being a little prick to deserve my time.”

“Yikes,” York responded, still in that smarmy voice that Tex found could push her buttons with amazing speed. 

“You know what, York? You need proof this is all about me on my own?” she growled, revving the bike a few times over. 

“Not really,” York replied with a casual shrug. “I’m sure you’re worked up enough to show me anyway.”

“Damn _straight_ I am!” Tex snarled before turning her bike around and kicking down on the pedal so hard she almost literally left York behind in a cloud of her dust. 

He coughed and muttered something about “this ought to be good” but it was far from Tex’s hearing or comprehension in the moment.

When she whirled back around, Tex concentrated on the beast and the flying back would-be heroes in its might. Her teeth bared in a dark grin before she took off at full speed toward the disaster ahead. 

York stood his ground, going intangible the moment Tex rushed by just in case, head cocking to the side as he turned to watch Tex steer toward one of the parallel parking jobs that really could have stood a retry before being caught in the street the way it was. 

Popping her wheel, Tex sent her bike careening over the muscle car’s hood and top, ignoring the sound of the glass crushing behind her or the blaring of the car alarm when she took off for midair. 

The various heroes around the monster all seemed to finally hear her approach and whirl around to look just as Tex let go of her handlebars. 

At the height of her arc, Tex kicked off from her bike, ignoring the plunge of her stomach at the full knowledge that she was absolutely destroying something she held very dear for the sake of looking _fucking awesome,_ and reared back in full assault, fists at the ready.

For a breathless moment, she could almost feel the air around her shift, her ears making static out of all noise as she focused all her attention on throwing an absolute _beast_ of a punch right for the middle of the monster’s five eyes.

There was a confused squeak from the creature just before contact and the nauseous, disgusting shattering of the fleshy creature beneath her punch.

Tex followed through with her hit, for all the good it did her, sending her swimming through gross tentacley goop before rolling into a tough landing on the pavement. A less than graceful hit to the shoulder that was made only better by the waterfall of green liquid that fell over her from the tumbling beast.

“Oh, my god,” she said, looking at her outfit, spitting out as much as she could. “I… okay. I might need a new costume.”

In the blur of action that took place, Tex had to wipe her glasses off no less than four times before she noticed the gloved hand reaching out for her. She blinked a few times, recognizing York’s colors.

Of course, when she reached for his hand, her’s went right through it.

She stared at him dully as he laughed.

“Okay, okay, sorry,” York chuckled, becoming tangible again. “I have to do that to everyone at least once. It’s part of my charm.”

“You have no charm,” she informed him, taking his hand for real and helping herself up, taking great joy in how York nearly fell face first into the goop at their feet.

By the time she was fully up, Tex saw that she was completely surrounded by amazed and confused faces – a good number of them younger than the ones she saw in the usual promotional imagery for Freelancer, but all in those signature visors.

"Ah,” she said, head tilted. “The sidekicks.”

“Junior partners,” a young teen corrected, standing right by York’s side. “Sidekick denotes a certain air of less equity in the mentorship and also certain wardrobes with a lack of proper leggings.”

“And we don’t feed into stereotypes,” York said with a grin as he clapped his hands down on the kid’s shoulders. “Until absolutely necessary.” He tilted his head down to the kid then looked back to Tex. “Tex, this is my buddy Delta.”

“I assisted York when he met you,” Delta reminded her.

“Charmed,” Tex said, putting her hand on her hip as her other hand flicked off a fleshy _something_ from her shoulder. “I had more of my costume in one piece back then.”

York looked ready to make a cheeky remark when there was a _POP_ in the air not too far away, the winds rapidly pulling them toward the sound. The Freelancer flinched a bit before bringing a finger up to rub at his ear. 

“Ow,” he groaned. “C’mon, Carolina, I know you like entrances but this is ridiculous–”

Curious, Tex turned to face the direction of the sound just to see the source of the aqua blur she had been watching from afar before. There was still a spark of static radiating off her as she stalked toward them, green eyes bright with fury, and what parts of her red hair wasn’t in a ponytail sticking up at odd ends from probably that same source.

“What the _hell_ happened!?” she demanded icily. “York! You were supposed to stay at base and _not_ interfere with this training session for the Second String.”

“I didn’t,” he said, putting a hand over his heart. “Scout’s honor.”

“You’re no scout,” she fired back.

“Well, maybe not, but I didn’t interfere either. I _totally_ respected your insane idea,” York explained readily before throwing a thumb in Tex’s direction. “But other people were out of the loop, Boss.”

Carolina looked Tex’s way for all of three seconds before locking in back on York, her fists clenched and shaking.

“We need to go,” she informed him. Her head bobbed around, looking to the various sidekick-sized and Freelancer-sized bodies around. “I will be giving all of your evaluations one-on-one back at the Base starting in one hour. And don’t think some… _non-affiliated_ assistance will count at all toward rewarding any of you.”

The majority of the heroes groaned or nodded before beginning to move in the same direction opposite them. Carolina, York, and Tex, however, stood their grounds.

“Carolina,” York spoke up, stepping toward the leader. “This is the Blood Gulch hero I was telling everyone about. Tex. She’s the one who helped Alpha out–”

Turning sharply on her heels, Carolina squared off with Tex, attempting to straighten her neck enough to perhaps make up for what she lacked on Tex in height.

“I’m _aware_ of who Tex is,” she snapped. “And I’m aware of the fact that anyone associated with Alpha is no doubt as lowly and wretched as him.”

York flinched. “Uh. Harsh.”

Tex stood, staring as hard as she could at Carolina through the grime on her sunglasses while her blood all but _boiled_ just beneath her skin.

“She doesn’t work with Alpha as it turns out,” York said in a very minor attempt to diffuse the situation. “And she’s interested in getting a costume. Wouldn’t happen to know any organizations where superheroes could sign up and possible find such a thing, huh?”

Ignoring the literal dripping from her suit, Tex glared at York. “Who said I was ever going to change costumes.”

“She is _not_ Freelancer material.” Carolina snapped almost simultaneously. 

Tex blinked a few times, letting the words _really_ wash over her before she slowly turned her head and stared at the woman. “The _fuck_ you just say?”

“Do you even know what you punched today?” Carolina demanded. 

“A monster. Now a dead monster,” Tex spat, turning to square herself directly with Carolina. 

“Ha, see? She’s _not wrong_ ,” York continued to weakly diffuse. 

"Inform me, _princess,”_ Tex growled, taking a step toward the speedster. “Just _what_ should I have known before leaping in and saving everyone’s ass today?”

“These creatures are unleashed when a gateway is opened up for them, not when they open them up themselves,” Carolina snapped. “They’re transdimensional beings. And if there’s one of them here, that means there’s a visitor from _somewhere else_ drawn here, too.” Her teeth gritted together. “A real hero – someone who _wasn’t_ busying themselves with the destitute and slime of Blood Gulch – would know that.”

“Oh, a real hero,” Tex mocked. “Not the people who save everyday civilians and businesses from the constant crime of the city. Gotcha. Would hate to confuse _that_ with whatever the fuck superheroing Freelancer pretends to do.”

Carolina stared at her before letting out a low snort. “Typical. You sound just like Alpha. Neither of you have what it takes to be a Freelancer,” she snapped before turning toward where the others had left.

“What a bitch,” Tex growled.

York stood, scratching the back of his head and being completely confused. “I don’t know what’s into her. I’ve never seen her act like that. Especially not to another superhero. Usually she’s all _oh my god I’m your biggest fan. I’ve read so much about you.”_ He looked at Tex. “She shook my hand for ten minutes when we were introduced. No joke.”

“Guess Alpha’s reputation has rubbed off on me,” Tex glowered. 

York scratched at his chin. “Yeah, that’s the weird part. I didn’t even know she _knew_ Alpha. I mean, just about the only people who do are those of us from the Academy?”

Looking to York, Tex raised a brow. “What? Miss Hardass _isn’t_ one of you nerds?”

“Nah, she just kinda showed up a few months ago and _completely_ took charge,” York explained. “Even took the Big Guy by surprise.” He stopped himself and waved a hand. “By the way, don’t feel bad about the whole _transdimensional alien_ thing. I have _no_ fucking clue what she’s talking about. And I was in space meeting Sangheili at fourteen. Like whoa.”

Tex narrowed her eyes. “Hey, York.”

He looked at her curiously, apparently not expecting his ongoing monologue to ever come to an end. “Yeah?”

“Any advice on how to get into Freelancer?” she asked. 


	14. The Court of Freelancer

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoooooo This is coming from my first vacation in six months! So I apologize for the tardiness. I’m hoping I make up for it in plot development and hilarity ; ) 
> 
> Special thanks to @secretlystephaniebrown, @washingtonstub, @allabtnothin, @analiarvb, @ashleystlawrence, @thepheonixqueen, @freshzombiewriter, @the-anonymous-fangirl, Zambo, @100wordsummaries, Yin, @spooky-circuits, SoDoLaFaMiDoRe, @a-taller-tale, and staininspace on tumblr and AO3 for the feedback!

Nothing had made Tex feel like more of a nerd in her entire life than the night she set the tattered, ripped, gross-covered remains of her epic homemade costume into a fire and filled her tote bag with books instead.

 _Hand_ books straight from York to be accurate. 

The Freelancer had seemed rather confident that Tex could, obeying the letter of the law strictly, become a Freelancer within the next six months given her raw talent and potential as a superhero. When she learned that the Carolina character had managed it in _three_ months, Tex had all the inspiration she needed to get it done in _one._

Except it was nearing the end of the first week and her ability to truly pay attention to the endless sentences and ordinances and protocols proved to be something lackluster once she put her nose to the grindstone and tried. 

She was loathed to admit it but her fruitless endeavor had really only taught her that she had use for a study partner. 

The thought alone brought her a shiver and threatened to douse her reputation as a badass.

Still, she found herself circling around the gym and the street of Church and Tucker’s apartment, hovering reluctantly at her old haunts, knowing full well that there was a good chance that she could run into Church. And not only that, but that Church himself was very much the type of study partner she would have been very fortunate to have with her newfound goals.

Of course, that was under the assumption that _she_ didn’t still find him utterly despicable and that _he_ didn’t want to breathe fire the moment anything about his former team was so much as mentioned. 

Ultimately, for all its theoretical good, there was no way asking for help from the “notorious” Alpha was going to happen.

Which meant she would have to settle for a sounding board of sorts instead. 

And, given their conversations about Church last time they talked, Tex had a fairly good idea of where she could go to find Tucker and have no worries about their mutual pain in the ass.

It had been so long since she walked through the doors of the cafeteria, Tex was actually caught aback with the arrangement of the tables. Everything that had once been fairly spaced out were organized in straight rows that left more walking space toward the buffet and less between the tables themselves. 

It said a lot about her time spent in the cafeteria, and who she spent it _with_ , that her first thought was that it’d probably take twice as long for them to sweep and mop between food rushes with the newer arrangement.

Tex pulled at the strap of her bag and continued walking in, making a beeline toward the the cash register where Tucker was sat, his face flat against the keyboard of the register and aptly ignoring the annoying _DING_ the machine gave for each moment he spent with his face pressed into it.

“The start of the line’s over there,” Tucker moaned, waving one hand toward the other end of the buffet. “I’ll be with you in a minute. Or I’ll kill myself first because minimum wage isn’t worth this bullshit. Either way.”

Smirking, Tex tossed her head back slightly. “Wouldn’t happen to know anyone who could let me on their discount, would ya?”

Almost immediately, Tucker sat up, stock straight and eyes blown wide. 

When he looked at her, he had to rub his eyes again before finally accepting Tex’s presence. And even then his head cocked to the side. “Tex!?”

“Know another superheroing machine around here?” she asked, grin straight up cocky at that point.

She _wasn’t_ expecting for Tucker’s expression to sour and for him to rest back against the back of his chair. There suddenly was a certain chill between them that Tex didn’t like _one bit._

“Dude, I don’t know,” he replied, voice almost pouting. “I haven’t seen much of one lately.”

With a heavy sigh, Tex dropped her bag from her shoulder and ignored the heavy thud of books hitting the floor. “Look, I’m sorry I upset Church so much. I know you have to live with him. But he was a fucking _dick_  and I can guarantee that whatever his version of it is leaves out the shit I caught him pulling.”

“Yeah, that’s surprising. Mister Genius is being duplicitous,” Tucker scoffed, crossing his arms and looking away from Tex. There was a furrowed line of irritation in his brow. “Not like I see much of Church these days either. Sure as fuck don’t see him at work, like, _ever._ I don’t give a fuck.”

“Obviously you do,” Tex replied, brows raised. 

Turning back on her, Tucker squinted before shaking his head. “About the Church shit? I mean. _Yeah._ Because he’s my _friend!”_ he snapped. “You’re _there_ for your friends. You worry about them. All that kindergarten shit.” His eyes narrowed. “You _definitely_ don’t abandon them for months and then try to act like everything’s hunky dory!”

Blinking in surprise, Tex tilted her head. 

Aggravated, Tucker exhaled sharply through his nose and glared off again, closing in on himself even further as he did so. 

“Wait,” she said, putting her hands on her hips. “Are you… Are you _actually_ mad because I’ve not been around _you_ in all the time I’ve been staying away from Church? Your best friend and roommate? The one I kicked to the curb?”

Tucker made another scoffing noise and shook his head, still refusing to make eye contact. “Well to people who _actually_ consider each other friends? It’d be a _real_ dick move to pull on someone. But I guess if you couldn’t even figure out, well, shit. Guess I was the only one who thought this was something like a friendship.”

“Oh,” Tex said, finally leaning back against the nearby column and easing up like she wouldn’t be running out at the first minute.

He looked at her scrutinizingly again. “What? That’s it?” he snapped before looking down to the cash register.”Ah, fuck it. Not your fault if I’m the one dumb enough to think some hot babe would be anything but repulsed by me.”

Tex felt a certain, uncomfortable squeeze in her chest as they lapsed into silence. A _tug_ almost. 

Tucker was intent on keeping his gaze elsewhere, even bothering to look at the cash register – as if he would ever do his actual job when there was basically _no one_ in the entire cafeteria. 

Which meant he didn’t see it coming at all when the wadded up paper towels pelted the side of his head. 

“Hey!” he shouted, flinching back and holding up his hands before turning to look at Tex, see her cheeky smile. 

Tex just tossed another towel wad a few times in her hand, offering a sincere look back at Tucker. “I should’ve stayed in touch,” she said. “Friends and all that. Or, maybe not friends. Just people I wouldn’t otherwise like to rip the spine out of. _All_ the time, anyway.”

“Heh. Yeah,” Tucker said, lowering his hands back to his lap. “You really _should_ have kept more in touch. I mean. Shit. At the _very least_ I could have given you Church gossip to fuel whatever post-breakup hatred you guys have.”

Surprised a bit, Tex tossed the towel behind her and crossed her arms. There was a certain pang in her chest at the thought of Church’s brooding hatred directed specifically her way for once. “He’s that bad, huh?”

“Nah, figured you were, though,” Tucker shrugged. “I mean _usually_ when someone gets on Church’s bad side he’s all about constant ranting and making stupidly elaborate _evil plans_ to get back at them that he doesn’t have the guts to go through with.”

Raising a brow, Tex prompted. “ _But?_ ”

The other shrugged. “I don’t know. He’s just… _Not_ that with you. It’s like. Moping. And I think he cries at night? Or he’s jacking off. I can’t tell the difference when I’m binging _Superhero Runway.”_ His eyes narrowed and he puffed out his bottom lip in a pout. “Something, by the way, I’ve had to do _alone_ now because my TV partner fucking _abandoned me_ halfway through the season!”

“Hm, that _might_ be my biggest offense,” Tex agreed somewhat somberly.

"Oh _definitely_ it is,” Tucker agreed, finally turning in his stool to face her completely. 

A certain charm was back between them and it squeezed Tex’s chest again in a strangely comfortable way. It reminded her of things being great and wonderful, and of Church, loathed as she was to admit it. 

“But, you know, we could _totally_ start making up for old time,” Tucker offered, throwing a thumb toward the corner TV that was projecting a blank blue screen at the time. 

Tex only glanced at the screen for a moment before shrugging. “Yeah, we _could_ , but I’m actually looking for help in other ways.”

Tucker blinked for a moment. He then grew a lascivious grin and waggled his eyebrows. Which was all the invitation Tex needed to pull out one of the books from her back and chuck it at his head.

“Hey! I didn’t even say anything yet!” Tucker squawked as he ducked beneath the book.

“Yeah, but you were _thinking_ it,” Tex argued, reaching for another book.

“What? You have _mind reading_ abilities now, too?” Tucker asked critically. 

She glanced around before glaring back at him. “Tucker, what part of secret identities do you not understand?”

“The part where you think anyone is around here except us and Flowers?” Tucker shrugged back just before they both glanced to the far end of the cafeteria where the manager’s office was. They waited in silence until the soft sound of carefree humming and singing could be heard and then Tucker glanced back to Tex. “See?”

“I don’t know why I bother with you,” Tex sighed, grabbing her bag up and dropping it on the nearest table surface.

Curious, Tucker got up from his stool and came over to join Tex. “So what exactly is it that I can be helping you with?”

"This,” Tex said, walking over to pick up the handbooks she had mishandled and thrown about. She looked seriously at Tucker as she handed them over. “Turns out, getting into Freelancer without becoming one of their academy cadets or enlisting in the sidekick program first makes things difficult. Supposedly to keep up standards.”

“Ugh, I _hate_ standards,” Tucker groaned, grabbing one of the books. “In my perfect world everyone would learn to lose them.” 

“I bet you would,” she said with a roll of her eyes. “And I need to pass some sort of entrance exam in order for them to start giving me Freelancer benefits. Like a costume, since mine is trash.”

“Aw, I thought you pulled off the sexy leather,” Tucker said with a shrug. “But yeah. I can see how it’d be considered a turn on.”

Tex narrowed her eyes. “Fuck you, I looked amazing who gives a fuck what others thought it looked like. And I meant that it was _trashed beyond repair_ from overuse. I guess I should have made a backup.” She glanced off, focusing on the blue screen of the television without really focusing on it. “Church brought it up a few times… I just ignored him.”

“Eh, what’s Church know. He was hardly in the field getting dirty,” Tucker shrugged, flipping lazily through the handbook.

“Yeah, fuck Church,” Tex responded without hesitation. It only bothered her peripherally that the heat was gone from her voice as she said it.

“He _did_ know more shit about Freelancer and being a superhero than either of us combined, though,” Tucker said, tapping on his chin. “Bet he’d be a lot of help with this if he wasn’t _a,_ being avoided, and _b,_ a complete asshole.”

“Also _c,_ despises everything to do with Freelancer and probably me at this point,” Tex added, crossing her arms. 

“Nah, don’t flatter yourself,” Tucker laughed, beginning to slow down and actually read some of the pages. “I don’t think Church could _ever_ bitch about anything or anyone more than Freelancer. And he’s still crazy about you.”

The comment made Tex take pause, glancing back to Tucker with a raised brow. “You mean the very thought of me drives him up the wall with rage?”

Tucker blinked back at her and cocked his head to the side. “No, I mean his every non-evil scheming moment is all about trying to figure out how he can get his dumbass self out of the situation that made you break up with him to begin with. That kinda crazy about you.”

She scowled at him. “You’re lying.”

“Nah, dude, total truthing over here,” Tucker assured her, pointing a thumb at himself. “And, I mean, Tex, I love ya. But my advice has been since the start of this that there’s more pussy in the ocean, but he’s just not taking it. He’s basically been throwing himself into dangerous scenario after dangerous scenario just in an attempt to get your attention.”

Tex blinked a few times before glaring. “That’s fucking stupid. I’ve barely been able to get around lately without my ride. Not to mention all the time I’ve had to put toward studying for this stupid entrance exam for Freelancer. I don’t even know when’s the last time I _saw_ a computer or anything he could try to contact me on.”

“Whoa what happened to your bike!?” Tucker cried out. “You never took me for a ride on it!”

“I sacrificed it in order to punch a one-eyed tentacle monster to death,” Tex informed him with a shrug. “The important thing is it looked pretty cool.”

“Holy shit, I bet!” Tucker laughed. “Man, why wasn’t that on the news or anything? Shit. I woulda watched the hell outta that!”

“For some reason the news only seems interested in superhero shenanigans that involves a Freelancer or two. Guess the rest of us don’t do enough,” she said with a grunt of discontent.

“Wow, you sound _super_ excited to be joining their ranks,” Tucker deadpanned. 

“It’s for a reason,” she assured him. When Tucker delivered a glance of curiosity she sighed and waved her hand. “Fame, fortune, and _spite._ Their leader doesn’t think I have what it takes.”

Humming, Tucker tapped his fingers against the book in his lap. “And I’m sure the fact that it’d _righteously_ piss off Church has absolutely no factor into any of this.”

The corners of Tex’s mouth tugged to a frown. “Well. Maybe the leader isn’t the _only_ one who needs to learn what I’m capable of,” she agreed. 

“Alright, all works for me,” Tucker agreed before pointing at a section of the handbook. “But, Tex, I hope you don’t study this stuff too much without reading the fine print! Twenty pages in and it says all of this don’t mean shit if someone already _on_ the Freelancers doesn’t vouch for you.”

Tex paused before stepping forward. “What? I didn’t see that!”

“No shit, that’s why it’s called _fine print,”_ Tucker said, not making any protest as Tex shouldered him aside and read the words for herself. “So maybe we should take care of _that_ loophole first–”

“York,” Tex decided, tossing a casual shrug after she composed herself. “I know someone on the inside. Same guy who gave me the books. I’ll muscle him into vouching for me if I have to. _He’s_ the one who gave me the bonehead idea to begin with.”

“Okay, sounds fair,” Tucker said. “But that’s still, like, just _one_ problem so far. Twenty pages into a _monster_ of a handbook.”

Folding her arms, Tex huffed. “So?”

“So?” Tucker repeated. “So, I’m gonna help you all I can, Tex, but we need someone who knows what they’re doing. Someone who’s been on the inside and will know what to look out for if they try to fuck with you. Which, if you pissed off the leader–”

“I didn’t do anything to the bitch!” Tex growled, throwing up her arms.

“Right. So, _since_ you pissed off the leader,” Tucker continued, “we’re going to need. Because I’m all about underdog shit, but in my experience being at the bottom of the food chain in Blood Gulch just keeps you in Blood Gulch no matter what you try.”

"Ugh, this shit hole,” Tex groaned, leaning against the cash drawer and glancing back to the only thing of interest in the cafeteria outside herself and Tucker. Though the screen blinked a blank blue back at her still. She narrowed her eyes, hackles finally raised. “Hey, Tucker.”

“Yeah?”

She pointed suspiciously to the television. “How long has the cable been out?”

“I don’t know, a few hours,” he shrugged. “Church fucks with electronics around here so much because of his stupid schemes I barely even notice it anymore–” He paused and widened his eyes. “ _Oh._ ”

Tex glared back at her bag, full of books and study materials rather than a quick costume change, but decided she’d just make the best of her civilian wear when the doors of the cafeteria slammed open behind them.

Both Tex and Tucker turned to face the door just as Church came stomping in in all of his costumed glory.

“Seriously, do you two _not_ understand secret identities!?” Tex snapped, shaking off the weird feelings it gave her to be quoting a _rulebook_ of all things.

“Tucker! I told you when I don’t stop broadcasting signals after _two hours_ to go ahead and fucking call the cops!” Church squeaked out.

Tucker waved to the television. “Dude! You break _everything_ in this place. I don’t know what’s broken and what’s a message receiver anymore! _You’re_ the one trying to creepily set up a meeting with your ex that wants nothing to do with you.”

Church’s mouth was in full snarl for a retort when he went stock straight and turned to face Tex. His jaw then hung loosely, looking somewhat mortified to be facing Tex directly.

She gave a small wave. “Yo.”

“Speaking of which,” Tucker went on, backing up slightly. “ _Awk_ ward.”

"Tex,” he said, looking utterly shocked to see her. 

"Church,” she said back as calm and smooth as ever, an impressive feat considering the lump in her throat.

The would-be supervillain stared at her more and then glared at Tucker. “The _hell,_ man? You guys have been buddy buddy without me!?”

“For about half an hour, sure,” Tucker shrugged. 

“I’m _allowed_ to have friends, Church,” Tex snapped, putting a strong grip on Tucker’s shoulder for emphasis. “And Tucker’s helping me out with a little project since my list of friends tends to be in short supply these days.”

To which Tucker couldn’t help but snort. “Okay… So are we going to pretend here that _Church_ of all people is someone swimming in an overabundance of friendships? Because he’s _Church._ And also I’m the only asshole that would ever dream of putting up with _either_ of you. Just saying.”

“Shut up,” Church and Tex harmonized before looking into each other’s eyes again, locked at a stalemate. 

“I’ve needed your help, a bunch of times,” Church announced, pulling off his stupid wig finally and giving her a full look at him. His mug was a little worse for wear, bruises and a few treated gashes where they weren’t suited. “You’re a hard lady to find, you realize.”

“I’ve not needed you at all,” Tex said immediately, ignoring the weight of the book in her hand.

He looked her evenly for a long moment before a small smirk pulled itself across his lips. “Liar.”

“Shut up,” she ordered in return. 

Tucker looked back and forth between them before throwing his hand at his forehead in an exaggerated fashion. There was a long groan from deep in his throat. “Oh god not the _cafeteria tension_ again! I thought we moved past this!”

"What’re you here for, Tex?” Church demanded. 

“Watch your tone,” she warned. “And for your information, I’m here to… catch up with Tucker.” She glanced to Tucker. “ _Right_ , Tucker?”

“Uh, sure,” Tucker said, grabbing the book and forcing a broad grin. “We’re studying! You know… good ol’ studying.”

Church stared at them dully. “Tucker, you don’t know what that word means. _Plus_ I know for a fact that you don’t own any of your text books this semester because you’ve done nothing but bitch about reading assignments since the _first week._ So don’t even try to pass that off as–” 

Once he got a good look at the book, Church’s entire body flinched back, his throat letting out a legitimate choking sound as he wildly reached backward as he stumbled. As if reading the cover of the book had physically attacked him somehow.

Tex rolled her eyes. “Oh, for fuck’s sake–”

“ _You’re trying to join fucking Freelancer!?”_ he demanded, screaming until his voice cracked. 

“Oh, sweet, so _that’s_ out of the bag!” Tucker said, smacking his hands together and rubbing them. “Which means you don’t have any reason to not ask him for help studying!” 

“ _HELL_ no!” they both erupted, rounding on Tucker.

Tucker rubbed his ears. “Ugh. _Why_ aren’t you two together again? You’re so natural together.”

“You want to be a _Freelancer?”_ Church cackled, the bitterness ebbing into every word. “Yeah. Yeah, okay! You can’t even answer cries for help _in your territory_ for hours. I mean. Someone – someone you even know personally – could’ve totally been killed today but what the fuck ever, right?” 

“Oh, you were obviously _fine,”_ Tex snapped with a flippant wave of her hand.

"Yeah! Just because I called for backup!” Church snapped.

Tex squinted at him. “ _What_ back up?”

Tucker let out a long sigh and began massaging his temples. “Oh, _noooooo._ Not this guy again, Church! You were supposed to cut him loose after _last_ time!”

“Yeah, well, good thing I didn’t considering how he keeps saving my ass!” Church growled.

“Hold up!” Tex yelled. “You got _a new superhero!?”_

All at once, Church and Tucker audibly shut their mouths and looked at Tex. Their eyes widened and Tex felt a slow burn across her chest. Because, _honestly_ , how fucking dare they!?

“Not… exactly?” Tucker responded finally, scratching at his jawline. “I mean… Caboose is… Caboose–”

“I tell you what Caboose is!” Church picked up, earning a horrified look from Tucker. “He’s a lot fucking _better_ than a superhero! See, Caboose is _loyal._ And Caboose is _manageable.”_

“Well, _that’s_ fucking debatable,” Tucker muttered.

Tex ignored him, eyes narrowing in on Church instead as she stepped over to him. 

“And Caboose is maybe even stronger than _you!”_ Church continued, in full fever pitch at that point. 

Silence fell over the cafeteria again as they let the declaration sink in, and Tex couldn’t help but turn her head as even Church seemed to realize he had taken it a step too far. 

“What, are you dating the new guy, too? What kind of dick waving contest is this?” Tex demanded.

“Yes. Hello? I heard Church say my name!”

All of them turned once more to the door. Tex found herself somewhat surprised by the size of the man that walked through the door next, but even more surprised by the timid hold of his shoulders and the duck of his head, as if he was purposefully folded in on himself as he looked around doe-eyed.

Tucker looked almost green. “You brought him in, Church? We _just_ replaced the tables.”

“Right, fuck,” Church huffed before turning toward Caboose. “Hey hey hey! What’d I tell you? Stay outside while I chew out Tucker.”

“I know, Church. But I also enjoy when you yell at other people. So I thought I would listen. And it’s a good thing I listened! Because you said my name which means you were missing me and that’s okay because I a _right here!”_ the man announced as he held out his arms excitedly. 

They all stared at him before Church broke the silence by burying his face in his hands and letting out a prolonged groan. 

“You. You this Caboose guy?” Tex demanded, tossing her book to the side and marching over to him. 

“Yes!” Caboose nodded exaggeratedly. “I am the Caboose guy.”

“Great, I’m going to hit you to make a point that I’m the best,” Tex informed him. “It’s nothing personal.”

The man blinked before grinning goofily. “Oh! Okay!”

“Wait, Tex!” Church began to call out just before Tex winded back.

Throwing her full weight into the hit, Tex landed the punch squarely against the man’s seemingly nimble jaw. It was nearly the level at which she had last gone toe to toe with Crunchbite with. She expected a snap of bone.

She just wasn’t expecting to _feel_ it in her knuckles as she spun back onto her pivot foot and nearly dropped to the floor.

Given, the man stumbled in the other direction at the hit but he seemed as bewildered as her.

"That was _owe!”_ Caboose cried out as he got back to his feet, looking slightly mortified toward Tex. 

Tex shook her hand, looking at her popped knuckles then back to Caboose. “Uh. Yeah. _Owe_ here too.” 

“Tex, what the hell,” Church chastised as he walked over to her and grabbed her hand. 

She glared at him and struggled half-heartedly – or even less – before locking eyes with Church. When he didn’t back down, she let him look at her hand. 

“Would you, just for _once,_ let me help you without a full on struggle?” he begged, tightening his hold on her wrist. “And don’t punch Caboose. He doesn’t have it all together to begin with, but he’s like a human tank.”

“You don’t want to help me,” Tex said sourly back, nose curling in a sneer. “Not _really.”_

“Oh, shut up,” Church grunted, looking at her hand. “Of _course_ I want to help you. It’s the thing I think about doing. You know,” he said, a subconscious touch of his free hand to his bruised cheek, “when I’m not stupidly vying for your attention.”

Glaring at Church, Tex felt her insides coil. There was a truth to his words that Tex hated, that she wished with everything in her she didn’t believe, but she couldn’t as he tenderly reached toward his pocket and grabbed gauze to begin wrapping her knuckles. 

“Maybe your kind of help isn’t the kind I want,” she continued, words still biting and mad even as she worried her mind wasn’t.

Flickering his eyes back up to Tex’s, Church frowned. “What kind do you need then? How can I prove that I’m not just spouting shit as part of a scheme?”

“Good question,” Tex huffed back, not sure she could give an answer even if she wanted to.

They looked at each other again and Tex thought for a moment that it would break the way she had been fearing any interaction with them would: Church mouthing off and Tex taking her good knuckles and adding to his current collection. 

But then Tucker fell back against his stool and let out a loud noise of protest. 

“Fucking _hell!”_ he groaned before holding up the handbook in his hands. “You have to get over your shit and help her with this Freelancer crap, Church.”

Sputtering, Church let go of Tex’s hand and grabbed his hair. “Are you being _for real_ right now!?”

“It proves you’re willing to do shit you hate for her _and_ that you think she can do it despite what those assholes say,” Tucker snapped. “No protests. I’m your wingman. And I’m sick of you complaining about your lonely as fuck ass.”

Church stared at Tucker before looking at Tex in surprise. “They told you no?”

“Their leader told me I didn’t have it in me,” Tex explained. “So. _Obviously_ I have to prove that wrong.”

“Leader,” Church growled, his eyes narrowing. “Yeah. Yeah we do.”

Tex stared at him angrily.

“I meant _you_ do,” Church coughed into his fist. 

Caboose stepped up behind Church, rubbing his jaw though looking no worse for wear still. He looked to the supervillain and tilted his head. “Church? What’re we doing next?”

“Reading,” Church sighed, grabbing the handbook from Tucker. He looked to Tex offering the book. “Aren’t we?”

After considering it, Tex smirked and grabbed it back. “As long as you admit it’s for _me_ and nothing funky on your end that involves taking over the world.”

“My world takeover will _strictly_ be on the side,” Church agreed cheekily. 

Tucker rubbed the sides of his head. “Maybe it won’t take weeks for you two to do it in a sewer this time.”

“ _Tucker!”_ they snapped in unison. 


	15. Gods and Mortals

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I took a bit of a break from writing last week with my birthday and a short vacation from work to visit family and friends, but I was glad to get back in the swing of things starting with Texas Time because oh man do few things make you miss writing quite like this superhero AU which is just sinfully fun to write. Hope you guys didn’t mind the wait too long! 
> 
> Special thanks to @thepheonixqueen, @secretlystephaniebrown, @washingtonstub, @analiarvb, @sugarfirervb, NidgetMinja, @notatroll7, Yin, staininspace, Zambo, and @ashleystlawrence, @fuckyeahroosterteethproductions, @the-anonymous-fangirl, @spooky-circuits, ms-aqua-marvel, @allabtnothin, @loyaltykask, and @stegladon on tumblr and AO3 for the feedback!

“Standard testing is stupid.”

Tex kept her arms crossed, staring ahead to the dome like building emblazoned with more gaudy architecture and nonsense advertisements than could possibly be excusable. She wondered how many Blood Gulch potholes could have been filled with the budget put into one of the single arches for the Freelancer home base. And then wondered how many more so-called hero taxes she would have to take to get a decent new costume. 

“Are there any smaller mole hills you’d like to die on, Alpha?” she asked, sliding a glance Church’s way and taking note of how the new Alpha-bot bobbed in the air same as all the old ones. No matter how much Church insisted on its greater efficiency in said bobbing. 

There was a pause as the bot’s eye refocused on her rather than the twelve foot high fountain in front of the building. “Did I mention how much I hate what they’ve done with the landscaping?”

“You’re useless,” she grunted. 

“Ha, _my amazing study guide_ for the Hero Equivalence exam would disagree, bitch! Unless you’d like to take the mandatory two years as a sidekick _first_ then take the stupid exam,” Alpha’s familiarly canny voice mocked over the bot’s speaker. “Just be glad it’s me here for emotional support rather than Tucker.”

“Secret identities,” Tex huffed.

“Oh, like they haven’t been watching me like the goddamn CIA for the past five years,” he scoffed in return. 

“I could have brought Caboose,” Tex joked as she began to walk toward the entrance at long last. “He would have at least dressed the part of _superhero support_  rather than float around and be annoying.”

“Hover. I _hover_. And if you knew the scientific significance of what it took to get this thing to _hover_ rather than _float_ like a fucking balloon you’d bow to my excellence,” Alpha stewed, bot bobbing alongside Tex’s stride. “Now let’s go show him what we’re made of.”

” _Her_ ,” Tex corrected for what felt like the hundredth time, she glared at the bot. “I keep telling you, if this is all some elaborate scheme to get back at this shadowy figure I’ve never even met for you, Alpha, I’ll tear this new bot up with my teeth and make you _watch_ your scientific discovery disappear before your very… _eye._ ”

“Ugh, such an unnecessary threat,” Church grumped over the speaker. “Fine, fine. Let’s go get revenge on _your_ maniacal leader lady instead of my source of constant disillusionment.”

“Thank you,” Tex sneered back just before bumping into someone right at the entrance. “Hey!”

“Ha, oops. Sorry, I was just…” the guy stammered out before taking a visible breath and dropping his shoulders. He rubbed at his spiky blonde hair and then glanced back at Tex. “Hey. Sorry. I was just,” he pointed toward the door. “On my way out. Needed some air before the exam.”

Tex rolled her eyes. “Fascinating,” she huffed before fully processing what the man was saying. Her eyes widened slightly and she glanced back to him. He was wearing one of the gaudy costumes she was familiar with and Tex snapped her fingers. “Oh, yeah! Hey! You’re one of the dweebs that was there when I, y’know,” she glanced to Alpha. “Punched the thing.”

The Alpha bot’s eye performed a full roll. “Oh, of course. _That_ sure narrows down your adventures.”

The man stood back, chin tilting up. “Oh! _Oh!_ You’re her– the vigilante! The one who…” The man then coughed and rubbed at his neck. “Totally showed us up in front of Carolina. Right. _Thanks_ for that.”

Giving a sleazy smile, Tex shrugged. “Hey. Just doing what I do best.”

“Yeah. Sucking up the oxygen in the room you’re in. Now move before we’re late,” Alpha said, daring to bump into Tex’s back as if it’d make her budge at all. “Tex, come _on!”_

Crossing her arms, Tex made no motions to go forward as she looked at the Freelancer dressed individual. “So what are you taking the test for? If you’re not a superhero and you were there the other day… _Huh.”_

Somewhat bashfully, the other rubbed at his neck and seemed to try to hide behind his own shoulders. “Yeah. I know. Little old for a sidekick.”

“It’s like you took the words right out of my mouth,” Tex smirked, not minding either how crass the statement sounded or how Alpha’s bot was backing up and running into her shoulders multiple times in the vain attempt to move her onwards. 

“Well, if you don’t have a superhero to vouch for you and you weren’t in the academy, you’ve _got_ to do the full two years,” he replied. “Doesn’t matter _how_ old you are when you get started. But. Well. _Hopefully_ today’s the end of all that.”

“Yeah, hopefully for both of us,” she said, putting out her hand. “I’m Tex. ‘Til the end of the day. Then I’ll be Texas.”

The blonde smirked back at her, taking Tex’s hand and shaking it firmly. “I’m Epsilon. ‘Til the end of the day. Then I’ll be… Honestly, I don’t know _what_ codename I’ll be assigned. It’s been two years and I haven’t had a single idea what to do at this point.”

“We’ll figure it out,” Tex shrugged before finally turning enough that the bot ramming into her flew between herself and Epsilon, smacking into the pillar by the door with a crack. 

“Ow,” the robot groaned, faltering and bobbing back and forth. 

“Alpha, stop playing around,” Tex snapped, walking through the door and giving Epsilon a final wave. “You’re supposed to show me where I’m taking this stupid test.”

“Hey! I’m not the one flirting with sidekicks!” Alpha balked as his bot finally righted itself and followed her inside. “Speaking of which, you disgust me. Ugh. _Sidekicks.”_

Tex raised a cautionary eyebrow at Alpha as she walked toward what, hilariously enough for a superhero compound, looked like a front desk. “Weren’t you once a sidekick–”

The bot flung itself out in front of her and focused its eye on Tex’s face as a loud sputtering broke out over its speaker. “Hey hey hey! I was a _junior consultant!_ Ugh. Honestly. Show me _some_ basic respect, Tex. I think I’ve earned at least respect.”

“You’ve earned robot rights again,” Tex replied, looking to the signing in sheet on the front desk before her. “And that’s only if your stupid _boot camp_ of studying for this _heroship exam_ proves to be worthwhile.”

“Oh, I have zero doubts,” Alpha huffed obnoxiously.

Tex reached for a pen when she felt a sudden breeze and her ears popped as all the papers on the desk flew in the opposite direction, taking the hovering Alpha bot in their general direction with a shout of protest.

Glaring, Tex didn’t even look behind her, snapping the pen on and signing the sheet on the clipboard before her without giving Carolina the time of day. 

“I can’t believe this,” the haughty leader scoffed behind her. “It’s not even been a full _month_ yet and you honestly bothered to show up here. There is _no way_ you can be prepared for _my_ exam!” 

Finally turning, Tex snapped the pen closed and faced her newfound superhero rival. 

“What _about it_?” she asked, shoving the clipboard into Carolina’s chest. 

Carolina gritted her teeth. “Hope you’re ready for failure, _Tex._ Because I have _no intentions_ of letting you pass this and get a spot on my team,” she said before waving toward the otherwise empty lobby. “Since I raised the standards for Freelancer, we’ve had _very few_ applicants for this exam even bother.”

“Oh, good. A _limit_ on the number of superheroes who can help save the day and-or be held accountable for their actions,” Alpha’s voice mocked as the bot finally came hovering back. It glanced between the two of them before settling on Tex again. “This her?” 

“You really _must_ be a genius,” Tex snarked. 

“Hey, now. No attacking the guy on _your_ side. That’s not the sign of a proper team-up,” Alpha chided.

“Loser,” Tex said with a roll of her eyes.

“Bitch,” Alpha replied without any heat.

As a beat of silence followed their exchange, the two looked to Carolina only to find her face stuck somewhere between fascination and horror, focused specifically on Alpha’s bot.

After _that_ bit of strangeness carried on for more seconds than was comfortable, Alpha turned back to Tex and tilted its body toward the Freelancer leader. “I think she’s looking at us. It’s really weird. I kind of want you to punch her.”

“Yeah, I want to punch her, too,” Tex shrugged. “Don’t think it’ll help me get on the team any faster, though.” She then focused on Carolina whose face was growing increasingly red. “Though it _might_ make me feel better. Hey! What the hell are you staring at us for?”

“You two are together?” she spat out, as if a damn had broke.

Alpha and Tex looked to each other then back to Carolina. 

“If I say _yes_ , does that mean I get to pass the exam faster?” Tex asked seriously. “If I say _no_ , does that mean I get to pass the exam faster? I promise you, it will feel great either way to me.”

“Who gives a fuck?” Alpha growled before getting up in Carolina’s face. “I know that, whoever _you_ are, doesn’t matter because Asshole McGee is still in charge, and fuck him. Tex is getting in by her _own_ merits because she _deserves_ it.”

Somewhat taken aback by the sincerity in Church’s outrage, Tex looked at the bot and blinked in surprise. 

Shaking her head, Tex refocused on Carolina only to find that the same sincerity had done nothing but make the speedster even _more_ bizarrely angered by their presence. 

When Carolina seemingly came back to her senses, she let out a growl, clenching the clipboard in her grip so tight that the object began to bend. “You will _not_ be joining this team, and you _definitely_ won’t be doing it while you’re connected to that-that _super villain!”_

“Yikes, Tex. What’d you do to spawn _this_ superhero?” Alpha asked. “Did you punch her dying aunt into traffic? Or, like, accidentally punch her dog?”

Tex crossed her arms. “How dare you. I would never punch a non-mutated animal.”

“So it _was_ the dying aunt, tragic,” Alpha carried the joke.

“Stop _fraternizing_ in front of me!” Carolina growled. 

“How about you _make us_ , Princess?” Tex scoffed at Carolina. “Now get over yourself and let me take this stupid exam so I can get a costume and bust the fuck out of here. Like the badass I am.”

Carolina gritted her teeth. “You need a current Freelancer appointed superhero to _vouch_ for you to take the entrance exam. Unless, of course, you want to be my _sidekick_ for a few years first.”

“Fuck. _No,”_ Tex laughed dryly. “And fine. Get York. He’ll vouch for me.”

“Will he?” Carolina asked before reaching up to her earpiece. “York. I need you in the front Hall of Justice. Yes. _Yes that is its real name._ I needed you here _yesterday_ so move it.”

As they waited, Tex narrowed her eyes on Carolina and ignored as Alpha tilted closer to her in a faux attempt to whisper. 

“Hey, when’d this bitch get in charge? I don’t have any records of her besides news clippings just a few months back,” he said to her. 

“Well, I never thought I could be disappointed in your knowledge proving to be limited after all, Alpha,” Tex grunted with a wave of her hand. “And yet here we are.”

"You rang?” The group turned as York predictably walked through the nearest wall and came up to their group. His smarmy grin became something a little less grating as he saw Tex and clapped his hands together. “Oh, hey! The Blood Gulch Beat’em Up!”

“York, in less than a _month_ since she interrupted my training run with the second string, _Tex_  is here to take an entrance exam,” Carolina informed him.

“Ballsy, I like it,” York said, giving Tex and Alpha a thumbs up. “Who’d you get to vouch for you?”

“Oh, boy,” Alpha groaned, as if he could see something coming from a mile away. 

Tex squinted at York. “Uh. _You.”_

The Freelancer stared back at her before coughing awkwardly into his fist and looking toward Carolina almost sheepishly. The leader merely crossed her arms in some sort of confident victory. 

“Aw, well, _shit,”_ York muttered under his breath before glancing toward Tex. “I… Hm. See, that’s. _That_ is a thought. Obviously a very good thought. And I am _totally_ going to support you on your unending quest for justice because, hey, I dig it. And you’re kind of amazing, no doubts about it!”

Tex ground back on her molars. “ _But?_ ”

“Well, nowadays we can only really vouch for people if we _really_ mean it,” York explained. 

“So unless York wants to put his _own_ license behind your attempt today, he’ll be keeping quiet on the vouching front,” Carolina explained. “Six months is a _long_ time to wait for your license and all the benefits of being a Freelancer. You don’t want to throw it around without reason.”

“Yeah,” Tex gritted out, glaring at York. “Just on the causes you _really_ believe in.”

“Aw, Tex, that’s not fair,” York huffed. “Delta is counting on me, alright? That kid’s going to be _legendary_ someday soon unless his bonehead partner screws it up for him. I’d never forgive myself if I messed it up so close to his Sweet Sixteen.”

Tex ignored the tug of a frown on her lips, instead grabbing the sunglasses from her shirt collar and slipping them over her eyes. “Yeah, well, it’s not like I’ve been dumb enough to rely on anyone for a while anyway,” she spat. 

York actually had the gall to flinch at her words, which made him about the most punchable intangible person Tex had ever had the displeasure of meeting.

“This. This. _THIS_ is fucking _bullshit!”_ Alpha screeched. 

They all glanced toward the hovering bot, his blue eye beginning to glow a sharp red. 

“I cannot _believe_ this bureaucratic bs is being toted around as some kind of level playing field!” Alpha’s synthesized voice continued to cry out, his eye glow growing with each new octave achieved. “You guys call yourself _good guys?_ Call yourself _heroes?_ How the fuck is this place _worse_ than it was when I left? How the fuck can anyone look at this woman and not think she’s the most astounding, goddamn _perfect_ superhero they’ve ever seen? Huh? How do you call yourselves heroes when your standards _beat people down_ and _break dreams_ rather than do anything actually useful? Like remove the petrified sticks out of your asses–”

“That’s _enough_ , Alpha,” Tex said firmly, leading the would-be villain to go sputtering incoherently before she glanced his way and forced a smile. “It’s okay.”

“It’s not,” he hissed, though his eye returned to blue. “It’s really fucking _not._ ” 

“Since taking the word of a disheveled _former_ sidekick is _far_ from our vouching standards,” Carolina snapped, a snarl aimed rather specifically at Alpha. “I’m going to ask that you either sign up for the _sidekick program_ today Tex, find another superhero to go up to bat for you, or _go home._ Are we clear?”

“Bitch, I’m following your rules,” Tex warned, pointing at Carolina. “But you rub them in my face one more time then I’m going to wipe the floor with you. Right here. Right the fuck now. Are _we_ clear?”

York pinched his forehead together and groaned. “God, this is horrible and awkward.”

Tex knew she had to turn and walk away before she ended up undoing a whole lot of hard work, but turning away from a fight was _physically hard_ for her. She never backed down, not even when it was the smart thing to do. And Alpha wasn’t doing anything to calm the situation. 

Which made it something of a relief when a loud burst of shattered glass and the thud of a human body landing, then sliding, across the hall’s pristine floors interrupted the tenseness. 

“Oh, what the hell _now?”_ Alpha groaned as they all looked.

On the floor, Epsilon from earlier was cut up and crumpled in a pile. But he shook his head first then the rest of his body loose of the stray glass before getting up on unsteady legs. 

“Epsilon!?” Carolina and York called out in unison. 

“I-I thought this was all… part of the test,” the man huffed, rubbing the blood from his jaw before looking a little worriedly toward Carolina. “But if _you’re_ surprised, Boss, then I guess I don’t feel so bad about not seeing this guy coming.”

The speedster looked mystified just before there was another hideous crashing noise to draw their attention. 

At once, Tex and Alpha deflated and groaned as the thundering approach of a familiar, ugly face came toward them. 

“Ugh, _Crunchbite!?”_ they moaned. 

Carolina and York stared at Alpha and Tex. 

“Let me guess, one of your super villain compatriots, Alpha!?” Carolina hissed. 

“If you must know,” Alpha huffed, “Crunchbite hates my guts. I might actually be his archnemesis.”

“I’m your archnemesis,” Tex reminded him.

“No, you said I wasn’t,” Alpha snapped petulantly. 

“No, what I said was that you weren’t _mine,”_ Tex corrected. “I’m too good to be _your_ arch. But it’s _because_ I’m so good that I’m yours. There’s a different standard for the hero. I have to leave it open for my rogues gallery.”

“Yeah, well your so-called rogues gallery so far consists of me and ugly,” Alpha mocked. “Oh… and that one guy… the one who possessed things–”

“I _demand_ you hand over Texas _immediately!”_ Crunchbite roared. In English. Which, of course, was odd.

Tex blinked at the new development a few times before smacking herself in the face. “Fucking – _Alpha!”_

“What!? What I’d do!?” he squeaked back.

“You mentioned a convenient callback. You fucking bastard!” Tex snapped. 

"Yeah, never mention a callback in battle. It only invites coincidence and bad memories,” York said. “Rookie mistake, Alpha. I expect better of you.”

Whirling around on York, Tex growled in warning. “Do. _Not._ Get on my side after that stunt. Got it?”

York held up his hands and turned transparent on the spot, as if it had occurred to him for the first time that she was very, _very_ likely to take a swing at him. Which, in fact, had been on her mind.

“Um. Battle strategies, Boss?” Epsilon asked warily, getting to his feet and holding his arm at an awkward angle. 

Carolina stared at Crunchbite then back to Epsilon. “Not for you. Head on to the injury ward, Epsilon.”

Epsilon’s face faltered for a moment before becoming hardened. “All due respect? Today’s my examination day, Boss. I wouldn’t do any good as a hero if on my first day starting out I turned tail at the first sign of trouble.”

For a moment, Carolina almost looked fond before the moment was broken up by York’s snickering. The group looked to the phaser for an explanation.

“What? He said _turned tail,”_ York shrugged which only got him looks of aggravation from Carolina and Epsilon. He looked to the more baffled Alpha and Tex. “Oh, just trust me. You’ll look back on this and laugh someday. Promise.”

“Enough stalling!” Crunchbite snarled. “I am here for payback! I am here for the _ages I spent in incarceration_ while you played house with some two-bit, _lower_ criminal element!” 

Tex glared at Crunchbite. “I don’t get this. Why do criminals take lockup as a personal offense? I stopped you after _you_ committed a crime. Would I be your archnemesis if I had been some other hero? Or the person who called the phone when your dumbass self let everyone in the bakery see you stealing shit?”

“Yes!” Crunchbite snapped before grabbing one of the fake potted plants and hurling it their way. 

“At least he’s honest,” Alpha offered. “I’ve got this. HOO HA!” 

With a single blast from the Alpha bot, the potted plant burst in midair, spraying the air with debris that rained down on the gathered heroes and would-be heroes. It _almost_ distracted them from the fact that Crunchbite had also grabbed the nearest lounging couch and had also chucked it at them in the same arc, but the heroes scattered.

Alpha, however, distracted by his own success with the potted plant was hit full on, sending the bot careening into the opposing wall. 

Shaking her head, Tex rounded on Crunchbite. “Typical, Alpha. Always makes me finish alone.”

“Ha,” York laughed as he phased back from the floor. He flinched as Carolina made an inhuman noise at the same statement from Tex and looked toward her. “Uh, Boss?” 

Though she told herself she _really_ could have cared less about whatever was wrong with Carolina, Tex glanced toward the leader of the Freelancers and saw for herself as the young woman had her head buried in her hands and continued to make the gagging noise of a dying cat. As well as the awkward stance Epsilon had beside her, arm out to pat her back but recoiling in fear with each noise she made. 

Tex smirked in realization at the opportunity at hand and pointed at the banged up Epsilon. “Hey! Epsilon!” 

Surprised, Epsilon immediately perked up and looked Tex’s way. “Yeah?”

“How about you and I take down Crunchbite together?” she asked. “I’m down a Supervillain Consultant. You’re down an Emotionally Competent Leader. I say, under the circumstances, if you and I take down this tank of a behemoth with a smarter, more dangerous villain riding around inside his tiny pea-brain, we wouldn’t even have to take a stupid written exam!”

Epsilon’s brows knit together. “I… don’t know how accurate that is. Also? I studied for that written exam.”

“Yeah, well buck up or fuck up as my gramps always said,” Tex said looking forward. “Either we prove we’ve got what it takes right now or we prove we never had _it_ to begin with right?”

There was a beat.

“Your gramps didn’t _really_ say that, right? Because it makes, like, _no_ fucking sense,” York spoke up.

“Stay out of this, York. You’re playing Freelancer Judge,” Tex snapped. “It’s the _least_ you can do. Come on, Epsilon!” 

“I am?” York asked as Tex ran by him, then turned around completely as Epsilon did, too. “Guys?”

“I hit low. You hit high. Watch out because his skin is almost as thick as his bling,” Tex barked out to Epsilon. 

"Speaking of which,” Epsilon said just before jumping over another thrown chair from Crunchbite, “ _why_ is a giant monster wearing bling!?”

“Because he’s also a pimp and drug lord!” Tex answered before ducking under one of Crunchbite’s swings and throwing her weight into a direct hit to his abdomen, ignoring the grind of her still bruised knuckles from Caboose. 

“What!?” Epsilon yelled before landing on the alien’s shoulders and delivering some swift hits to the creature’s face. “I signed up for sidekick internship for two years to get paperwork, and _these_ are the adventures you had on your own?”

“Welcome to Blood Gulch Living,” Tex responded as she was forced to duck between Crunchbite’s legs. “Also, Epsilon, don’t look into his eyes. Omega’s the other guy and he can–” 

She could almost _feel_ the dramatic irony as the booted foot of the would-be Freelancer came cracking down on the back of her head and sent her chin first to the floor. 

Her vision swam for a moment as there was an evil cackling overtop of her. 

“Pitiful super- _zero!”_ Epsilon’s voice called above her, though its tones were twisted and unnerving. “I’m going to _claw your eyes out._ As soon as I figure out what exactly this urge to clean myself is from. Hm. Wait. What kind of _loser powers_ are these!?”

“Uh. Epsilon?” York called from behind. “Buddy? You alright?”

Wasting no time, Tex kicked up as hard as she could, sending Epsilon – and with him, Omega, faltering into the floor. She gave her head another shake before pushing to her feet and seeing Crunchbite was doing much the same. 

The beast groaned a bit and held tightly to the sides of his head. When it caught sight of her, it immediately dropped the confused posturing of clicks and honks to instead unleash a mighty roar directed at her. 

Then Tex’s mind lit up with a new plan. 

“Hey! Omega!” she shouted, grabbing Epsilon’s attention. “You wanted a shot at me, big guy? You want to prove what a _puny super-zero_ I really am once and for all? Take me to town in front of witnesses? Or do you want sheer, _raw_ power to go along with your so-called _superior_ intellect?” 

When the villain in Epsilon’s body looked properly piqued, Tex carefully removed her sunglasses and stared straight at him. 

Just like before, there was a strange _nothingness_ to the world around her. Just numb confusion and a bit of teetering awareness toward the edges of it. The kind that sounded muffled, like noises outside of her own dome attempting to break in. Like shouting and the strange roaring that only peripherally made her realize _oh isn’t that Crunchbite–_

The creature punched her through the desks of the font hall and Tex felt incredibly annoyed with the undignified grunt she gave as a result of absolutely eating the pavement. But after the hit she was back on her feet and grinning through the busted lip because she was back, Omega was gone, and Epsilon was perfectly set up to aid her attack.

“On three!” she shouted to the mortified looking sidekick. 

“What!?” he yelled out in a squeak.

“One!” she roared as Crunchbite charged for her.

“Okay!?” Epsilon cried out, still sounding unassured. 

“Two!” Tex snapped as she ran toward Crunchbite, fist back.

“Wait! I still don’t know what’s going on!?”

“Three!” she yelled as she punched right between Crunchbite’s mandible and hit the soft palate of his exposed throat. She ignored the slicing over her knuckles and the absolute ruination of her favorite civilian shirt for the sake of hearing the monster gag and recoil from her. 

It stumbled backwards, grabbing at its throat just before Epsilon finally picked up on his cue and delivered a solid drop kick to the monster’s skull, sending the threat, unconscious, to the ground. 

The two panted, standing over the unconscious villain with matched smiles of success. 

“We… We creamed this guy,” Epsilon laughed. 

“I have a friend who would have loved to been around for that statement,” Tex laughed, rubbing at her face.

Epsilon’s face scrunched in confusion. “I’m not sure I want to know what that means.”

“Nevermind,” Tex hand waved just as York approached them clapping. She huffed, tossing her head to the side. “What? That sarcastic clapping?”

“No, I’m genuinely impressed! Great work, guys!” York said, grinning as he offered them thumbs up. “I mean, I’m not the Boss, but…”

“But _I_ am,” Carolina said, stepping up to them. Her hair was still somewhat out of alignment but she was no longer freaking out about _whatever_ it had been earlier. She glared at Tex for a long moment before looking to Epsilon and putting on a more genuine smirk. “That’s my rookie. Proving his merits and putting a finishing blow on an opponent. With a _kick_  as well. My personal favorite. That wouldn’t have been for _me_ , would it?”

Epsilon laughed awkwardly and scratched at his jaw. “Ha, I mean. I just did what came natural and all.” He blinked a few times before waving to Tex. “But it was Tex who took point. I didn’t even realize there was a second villain around until she warned me about the Omega guy–”

“Omega,” Carolina repeated, lips pressed to a thin line as she glared Tex’s way. “And just _where_ did he happen to disappear to, Tex? Or did you happen to lose a villain on your watch?”

“I didn’t get the chance to find his dweeby body around here. I’ll start looking if that’s what you’re going to hold against me,” Tex snapped. “I’m serious about becoming a Freelancer, Carolina. Like it or _not.”_

“I _don’t,”_ Carolina snapped. 

“Okay, Carolina, _jesus_  what’s gotten into you lately?” York muttered. “You’ve gotta look at this objectively.”

“Objectively, York?” Carolina snapped, whirling around on him. “ _Believe me_. There has been _nothing_ I have aimed to do more since I took over this team than tried to be objective. Put what’s best for everyone – for this _world_ – before what I _really_ want to do.” She threw a glare back at Tex. “Especially to _her._ God. If any of you knew what I was doing to secure… To make sure everything was right. _Objectively_ right.”

Tex waited a moment before throwing up her arms. “Just what the fuck is your _damage_  with me? I swear to fuck. I don’t offer this lightly, but if you want to take a free swing and get it out of your system, be my guest!” 

Carolina balked. “That is not–”

“What does she need to do in order to be given a _real_ chance, Carolina?” York demanded finally, voice teetering on exasperation. “At this point, if you’re _so_ ready to see the worst in her, let her fail on her own devices.”

For a tense moment, there was silence, then Carolina exhaled thickly from her nostrils. 

“Tex, you need a vouch still. From a superhero ordained already by Freelancer,” Carolina finally said.

“Well, just _fuck me_  then, right?” Tex laughed. “Who’d vouch for me against the obvious discontent of their _incredulous_ leader, huh? Who would dare have the balls to get on _your_ bad side, Red? Am I right?”

York sighed, dropping his head again but saying nothing to the contrary. Epsilon kicked awkwardly at the ground, his own great moment dissipating in the awkwardness. 

But it was all shattered by a whistle from the other end of the hall. 

Tex looked up just as Alpha’s lifeless bot was tossed for her head, which she easily caught. 

“If it’s okay with you, Boss, I will dandily take up the opportunity to vouch for this fellow hero-in-arms,” a voice spoke up just as a blue figure appeared out of thin air. “After all, we invisible-people have to stick up for each other every now and then.”

Tex blinked, holding onto Alpha’s bot cautiously.

York scratched at his head. “Florida? Are you even still here? I feel like I never see you.”

“That would be the point, our well chiseled crowd pleaser,” Florida responded, tilting his head. “For as much as you attract the camera, I prefer to… _blend in.”_

“You’re, perhaps, the one person in the world that can ruin a compliment for me,” York sighed in aggravation.

Florida smirked at that before locking eyes with Tex again and pointing toward the bot. “Be careful with that. I find that Alpha is a touch sensitive about his equipment being damaged, and that one has had a doozy done to it already. Ah. That kid and his gadgets.”

“What the hell,” Tex muttered. 

Carolina stepped forward, looking hopelessly lost. “Florida, you _can’t_ vouch for Tex. You can’t – this will ruin _everything_ I have worked for!” 

“Then, perhaps, we should be working toward something different,” Florida offered cheerfully, walking toward Tex and daring to put hands on her shoulders. “Something more _together!_ Like a good team, should.”

Tex scowled. “Hands off.”

Opening her mouth for protest, Carolina’s throat gave a dry, confused sound before she snapped her jaws closed again and looked around. Her shoulders shaking, Carolina shook her head. “Fine. _Fine!_ If that’s how I have to play this, then I will fucking play it this way.” She glared at Tex and Epsilon. “You two are on the team.”

Epsilon and Tex glanced at each other then back to Carolina. 

“Um. Yay?” Epsilon offered.

“Epsilon, it’s my great honor and privilege to graduate you from the status of junior partner to Freelancer of Probationary Status,” Carolina continued more formally, straightening her stance and at least attempting to appear dignified. “I give you the codename _Washington.”_

For a moment, Epsilon just blinked back only for the color to drain from his face. “Wait… Wait, _what?_ I mean… Boss. I. Thank you, first off. But also, _huh?_ Boss… my-my secret identity!?”

“Shh, just take it,” York advised from over Carolina’s shoulder. “Not the time to fight with her.”

Ignoring them both, Carolina’s fierce gaze was locked on Tex instead. Her jaw jutted out and teeth ground. 

Tex merely narrowed her eyes on Carolina and waited.

“Tex,” Carolina snapped.

“Carolina,” Tex returned in kind.

“I award you Freelancer of Probationary Status,” Carolina said as if every word was tearing from her soul. “I give you the codename _Texas.”_

“Really dug deep for that one, huh?” Tex snarked.

“You’ll be awarded all the privileges of a Freelancer ordained superhero,” Carolina continued lowly, a small grin beginning to surface. “Including a mandated costume change so as to fit with the Freelancer aesthetic. That costume will be approved by yours truly, so as to avoid any trademark infringement of other registered superheroes. I do believe we have a _few_ color schemes still available.”

“Color schemes?” Tex asked, taken by surprise. “I don’t need color. I have a look. It’s Black and Yellow. That’s the color costume I was sticking with, I just needed new materials–”

“Really?” Carolina smirked. “I was thinking… Oh, I don’t know… Something like _pink.”_

For a moment, Tex couldn’t even comprehend the suggestion. She then narrowed her eyes. “You wouldn’t _dare.”_

“We’ll see,” Carolina responded before turning aptly on her heel and walking away. “Welcome to the team.”

Tex’s jaw worked itself awkwardly, trying to find proper words again. 

“I… That name can’t stick, because it _really is_ a conflict with my personal safety,” the ‘newly’ named Washington said, looking to the others for sympathy.

“I think it’s a good name, son,” Florida chuckled.

“That’s… that’s so far removed from the problem,” Wash muttered.

“Yeah, Wash, no one cares. We want to see the girls kill each other,” York informed him.

Tex looked down to Alpha’s bot and huffed at her own reflection in his shining metal. “Yeah, I can’t wait to see that, too.”


	16. Dark Victory

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh man, I almost missed my self-imposed Monday deadline for these chapters! Which I have to blame entirely on finally getting around to watching this amazing superhero anime, My Hero Academia, this weekend to celebrate having Memorial Day off. I do not regret it one bit, though, because as you guys probably know by now, I have a thing for superheroes ; ) Hope the semi-late chapter is still enjoyable!
> 
> Special thanks to @secretlystephaniebrown, @allabtnothin, @ashleystlawrence, @the-anonymous-fangirl, @thepheonixqueen, @analiarvb, @washingtonstub, @100wordsummaries, Zambo, @spooky-circuits, Yin, @ephemeraltea, @notatroll7, ms-aqua-marvel, and staininspace on tumblr and AO3 for the feedback!

With Tex’s particular powers it was entirely unnecessary to keep up appearances by working out. Like her father before her, her strength never proved to increase with the tone of her muscles or decrease with atrophy. Her finesse and control – things she had long ago mastered – were the only factors that seemed malleable.

Still, working out seemed to be the only thing that made her blood pump and kept her focus. 

Or, rather, it also helped her completely ignore things. Tune out annoying voices as it were. 

“You’re honestly not going to turn on the webcam,” Church scoffed from the computer, his face scrunching up on the monitor. “This is unbelievable! I haven’t gotten to see you in, what, _two weeks_ and you can’t turn on the webcam?”

“Nope,” Tex grunted in the midst of another chin up on the bar over her Freelancer bunker bed. 

“Forget Church!” Tucker’s voice called out as the man shoved Church aside with a small squeal and appeared forefront to the monitor. “Dude! You totally owe me! _I want to see the suit!”_

Teeth grinding back on each other, Tex kicked off from her bed and walked toward the monitor, her body wavering slightly in the heels. 

“I am _not_ showing you this _despicable_ training outfit!” Tex spat. 

The large monitor took up nearly half of the wall, all show. It wasn’t like a home computer, but rather like a constant communications system that listened to her commands if she spoke to it. 

However, Tex figured having dated Church off and on, she’d earned the right to be done talking to machines. 

Tucker puffed out his bottom lip. “Well now you’ve _got_ to let me see it. I promise you, my brain will come up with something much worse. Like… skanky Halloween costume worse. It might be the greatest thing I’ve ever imagined.”

Church popped back onto the screen, shoving against Tucker’s face and shoulder but not making much leeway in forcing his friend to leave. “Stop – _UGH!_ – imagining my – _GRR! TUCKER!_ – girlfriend doing sexy things!”

“You’re just mad because you can’t do it with your complete lack of imagination,” Tucker scoffed, beginning to just as feebly push back on Church. It was like watching two stick bugs running into each other.

Tex crossed her arms, ignoring the fact that the effect was completely lost on their end. “Church. You did it again.”

“Did – _EGH_ – what!?” he sputtered back, turning his head fully to his webcam.

“Called me your girlfriend,” she reminded him. “I haven’t agreed yet that we’re dating again.”

“Yeah, the two weeks of not seeing each other gave me the hint,” Church replied dryly. “But… I mean, come on, Tex! You and I – we’re a team. We’re together. You know, even when we’re not _together_ we’re together. So why pretend to not be?”

She stared at the monitor for the moment, trying to ignore the growing irritation showing on Church’s face as he was forced to stare back at a blank monitor. 

“Maybe it’s less we’re pretending _not to be_ and more that I happen to like the people we are when we’re _not_ trying to be boyfriend-girlfriend,” Tex suggested. “Maybe, Church, every time we’re together you prove to be using me as a chess piece in some game you’re not sharing with the rest of us. Or, you know, are just plainly an ass to me about everything.”

“Oh, man,” Tucker laughed. “Got you.”

Church gave Tucker a look, then the screen, then Tucker again before realizing his friend was fully distracted and shoved him out of view entirely with a yelp, a crash, and the tumbling of several of Church’s collectible figurines through the air. 

“I think this is a conversation best had face to face,” Church said. “You have me at an emotional disadvantage, able to see me while I can’t see you.”

“Hm,” Tex said, rolling her eyes back in thought before smirking at the screen. “No. I like being unfair. Advantages are just a part of life for those of us serving in Freelancer. Or so I keep getting told when I send my daily complaint about _Princess Freelancer_ and these prototype costumes she keeps having made in,” Tex shuddered,  _“pink_ to discourage me.”

“Right, sure, hold on just a sec,” Church replied, looking down to his keyboard and typing a few times rapidly. He then looked back up and smiled. “Okay, continue.”

For a moment, Tex blinked and tried to figure out what Church had just done before she realized his eyes had a blue glow to them. Her body went rigid and she looked around just before her monitor shared the blue glow.

“ _CHURCH!”_ she roared.

“Sorry, you’re a city away and you said yourself it’d be another week before you could see me to punch me so–” Church began only to halt in his words and stare forward, mouth hanging slightly. His head tilted back. “What the _fuck_ are you wearing?”

Tucker popped up behind Church. “What!? Let me see! Let me–” He stopped, eyes growing inhumanly wide and jaw dropping even as the corners of his mouth twisted up in jubilation. “Uh, Church, it’d be easier to start listing things she’s _not_ wearing!”

Tex’s lip curled. “Their _excuse_ is that the… show of skin is to portray a weakness of flesh I don’t possess. And the skirt is… distracting to enemies.”

“That’s not a skirt, that’s basically a scarf they tied to your hip,” Church snapped. 

“Huh,” Tex said, tapping her chin. “That’s not too bad. I think I’ll use that in my next complaint to the head hancho about Commander Speedo – And _no,_ Tucker, I don’t call her that because she actually wears a speedo. She’s super fast.”

“Aw, fuckberries,” Tucker sighed.

“They’re making you wear this shit while you train?” Church asked, looking angry and disturbed. “Is _he–”_

“You ask me about the Director of this program one more time, Church and I’m going to personally tattoo the answer to your forehead,” she warned him. “No, I have not seen your old mentor. I will punch him when I do. For fuck’s sake, when have you ever not trusted me to _punch_ something?” She thought for a moment. “Oh, right. All those times leading up to the break up.”

Church blinked a few times before scowling. “Hey, we’re _trying_ to get along now. Come _on_. Can’t you leave the past behind us?”

Tex gave the thought about three seconds. “No.”

“Fine, whatever,” Church groaned. “But at least explain why you don’t throw that hideous thing off as soon as you get back to your room in the evenings. Or at least the boots. What are those? Four inch heels?”

“Yeah, Tex,” Tucker continued, leaning more over Church’s shoulder. “Why aren’t you naked? For fuck’s sake, if Church has to hack your computer to get you to turn the camera on the _least_ you should do is take the sports bra out.”

She crossed her arms again and waited before looking to Church expectantly.

“What?” he asked testily.

“ _Church,”_ she hissed.

“Oh! Right!” Church replied, hands scrambling before grabbing onto one of the figurines Tucker had knocked over before and turning. He gave a solid throw and absolutely nailed the side of Tucker’s head, sending him off screen again. “Sorry, dude. You know Tex gets what she wants.”

“No, no. I like it. It makes me feel like she’s back at home,” Tucker called from off camera. 

As Church turned back around, Tex let out a satisfied sigh. A smile quirked at the corners of her mouth almost despite herself. 

“And to answer your question, oh former evil genius,” Tex finally answered, “I don’t change immediately because if they’re going to make me train with them in these ridiculous costumes until I’m certified for being on the field, then I have every intention of showing them up.” Her face dropped. “And, unfortunately, I’ve got very little practice in heels of this magnitude. Or with the ride up of a thong.”

Church stared at her, blinking a few times, before looking off, face growing a slight shade of pruce. “I, uh, don’t know what to do with this information you just gave me,” he said.

“Let me bitch some more about my boss?” she offered with a shrug. 

“Something along those lines,” he laughed, leaning his chin against his hand as he leaned closer to the computer. “How’s training going?”

Tex raised a brow as she caught the glint of Church’s eyes glow brighter and bluer. “What’re you up to?” 

“Nothing in your room, promise,” Church said with a wave of his free hand. “Just tell me about training. Come on – we only talk once a day.”

There was something warm in Tex’s chest at what seemed to be genuine curiosity from Church’s end. She kind of hated and loved it at the same time.

"Well, it’s mostly just training simulations in this underground bunker they have,” Tex explained. “The whole first week no one bothered to explain to me that points were based on successfully completing teamwork maneuvers with your assigned team and _not_ being the first one to punch the monsters. But… Come on, there were monsters and I punched them into little bits before the rest of my team even had to worry about it most of the time. So I don’t see the big deal. Sounds like I was pulling more than my weight to me, honestly.”

“You know, I had the exact same attitude when I was at their stupid academy,” Church remembered almost fondly. Which was the closest he had ever gotten to saying something positive about Freelancer or his academy experience since Tex had met him.

“Well, I still need to reach one hundred points before I’m certified to work in the city,” Tex continued. “And now that I’m working with my team, I’m getting them… but they’re _majorly_ slowing me down. _Plus_ you don’t _all_ get points when you work together. The rules seem to be completely arbitrary!”

Church scowled. “Ugh. Are they still having team leader divide points? That is _such_ bullshit!” he growled. “I spent a whole week slaving away for them when I was a student to build this autonomous computer system for all of Freelancer. It was completely objective and completely right all the time. Like me. _That_ should be what’s awarding you guys points! Not your bitch boss!”

Tex blinked slowly at the screen.

After a moment of silence, Church sunk back in his chair and sighed. “It’s my computer system awarding the points, huh?”

“Thanks, robot-nut,” she sneered. “Though, I _guess_ that if it wasn’t for the system, Carolina _would_ be in charge. And then I wouldn’t get any. So. Thanks.”

Surprise lit up Church’s face and he looked at Tex before rubbing at his neck. “Heh. Well. Wow. That almost sounds actually grateful from you for once. I barely know what to say.”

“Eh,” Tex shrugged with a smirk. “Don’t get too used to it.”

“Anything else slowing you down?” Church asked, beginning to put his figurines back in place. “I only ask because even with setbacks I have no doubts about your success and am only surprised – nay, _scandalized_ – that you haven’t already been allowed on the streets.”

“Wow, that flattery,” Tex laughed. “It certainly is… an _attempt_ at something. I suppose.”

“Come on, this is your complaining hour!” Church prodded. 

“If you’ve _got_ to know, there’s two other things that are kind of being my hangups right now,” Tex continued. “First, the monsters we fight.”

“Not like punching the real thing? Yeah, damn holograms,” Church scoffed. “Never could get that right.”

“No,” Tex continued, a frown tugging at her lips. 

“What? They actually are paying for robots to dress up and let you guys tear them apart? Never woulda thought they’d be that loose with their money,” Church guessed again. 

“I _guess_ they’re robots,” Tex shrugged. “It’s just that I’m usually pretty good at discerning what I’m punching at. And I’ve punched so many of _your_ robots and so many _real_ monsters at this point I thought I knew what my knuckles were hitting.” She looked down to her fists and took a breath. “It’s setting me off my game. I don’t know how else to explain it.”

“Other than it’s probably royally pissing you off?” Tucker offered.

“Other than it’s royally pissing me off,” Tex agreed before smirking back at her friends. “That’s exactly it, thanks, Tucker.”

“Eh, I have a gift for knowing what a lady’s really thinking,” he said with a shrug. “Like when she says _leave me the fuck alone freak,_ what she really means is _keep watching how far that bead of sweat gets down my cleavage.”_

For a moment Tex just stared which made it a surprise when Tucker was pelted with another figurine. 

“I didn’t even have to signal you for that one,” Tex laughed to Church who was tossing and catching an extra.

“Eh, it was for me,” Church shrugged. “So you think Freelancer’s, what, keeping monster leftovers from missions or something? Using them for training?”

“I don’t know _what_ I think,” Tex replied honestly. “I just think it’s weird. This whole shithole is weird. But as long as Carolina’s at the top of it trying to make my life miserable? I’ll keep destroying things by her rules just to spite her.”

“Spite is terribly motivating, isn’t it?” Church asked from experience.

“Spite is the _only_ real motivation,” Tex grinned back. 

“What’s the other thing slowing you down?” Church asked, leaning closer to the monitor again. He was wearing a cocky smirk, as if he had something planned already, which was more than enough to make Tex raise a brow at him. 

“What are you doing and how do I have to bail you out?” Tex demanded.

“Just tell me what the other thing holding you back is, Tex! Come on, trust me,” he goaded. 

“Fine,” she huffed before waving her hand over her body. “Have you not _seen_ what they force me to wear? Even if this stuff is made out of kevlar, they’ve got it stripped and uneven and _so fucking gaudy_ that it doesn’t wear and tear easily. In fact, with my style of fighting it just rips itself to pieces all the time. Which means I keep having to get new prototypes made which get _worse_ every time.” She gripped at her hair and let out a low roar. “And they’re always _fucking pink!_ It drives me nuts, honestly!” 

“You know what I think will really help?” Church asked somewhat smoothly.

“No,” Tex replied, letting go of her hair. “I’ve actually made it a practice to not try to figure out your warped little egotistical mind anymore, Church. It’s made _me_ a lot happier, at least.”

“You’re missing out,” Church shrugged. “But no, what _I_ think will help is that if you were to tear your suit up again, break a heel or something, and sent in a request for a new suit again. I think you’ll be pleased.”

Tex paused for a moment before looking at Church almost dreamily. “You hacked the mainframe and gave them schematics for a _real costume_ for me.”

“I’m not saying one way or the other,” Church said, crossing his arms. “But yes.”

Looking fondly at the screen, Tex shook her head before falling back on her heels and snapping them off immediately. “Whoops.”

"Wow, I see two weeks has done nothing for your patience,” Church commented before typing on his keyboard again. “While I’m in there why don’t I just go ahead and send in your request for a new uniform, hm?” 

“Eh, I was going to make you do that anyway,” Tex joked. 

After a moment of Church clattering away, Tex paused and glanced toward her bunker door. Eyes narrowing, she reached forward for the screen’s power button. 

“Hey, Church? I’m tired for the night, alright? How about we give it a rest and I’ll call you earlier tomorrow,” she offered.

“You’re not going to even do a sexy dance for me? We’re practically back together!” Church bemoaned.

“Yeah! And I’ve already seen you naked so it’s not like it’ll be new for me to stand in the background,” Tucker called from off camera.

“Dude get the fuck out of my room! What are you even doing still in here?” Church hissed, turning to face the right. 

“Good night,” Tex said with a roll of her eyes and a definitive smack of the power button. 

In an instant, her room became eerily quiet, devoid of the nonsense from Blood Gulch filling the speakers. It was enough to provide her pause, make her wonder if her instincts were just as off as her punches in the training room.

Then she let out a growl and threw her arm into a full swing right for her closet door, bursting the wood on impact and when she pulled out through the remains. 

She waited, listening as the wood that fell in through the hole tumbled down and hit something on the floor that was distinctly solid. 

Throwing open the closet door, Tex saw a brown clad Freelancer sitting by her shoes. 

Tex blinked a few times before throwing up her hands. “I was expecting my voyeur to be one of the men. Can’t trust the ladies on the team either. I don’t know why I’m surprised. I’m still not convinced Tucker walked into Church’s room looking for _me_ naked every time.” 

“What the fuck,” the Freelancer sneered. “I’m not spying on you to see you naked. Who would have to? Have you seen your outfits in the training room.”

Tex stared at her before finally placing a name with the face. “Connecticut, right? The vigilante without powers who got in through detective work.” Tex raised an eyebrow at her. “Everyone says you’re crazy.”

“CT,” the Freelancer corrected, finally getting to her feet. “And everyone says _you’re_ the crazy vigilante from the shitty part of the city who thinks you can solve everything with punching.”

“Well,” Tex smirked, “I’ve not exactly been proven wrong yet, now have I?”

“Whatever,” CT snapped before beginning to walk toward the door. “I’ll just see myself out.”

Tex narrowed her eyes before punching through the wall right in front of CT’s head, making the vigilante stop in her tracks, though she looked more with _dull surprise_ than anything resembling actual intimidation. 

“Why were you in my closet?” she demanded.

“Listening in,” CT replied, ducking under Tex’s arm easily considering her height. “I thought you had connections to someone outside that could have provided useful to me. I was wrong. Looks like you’re just homesick for losers.”

“What interest do my _losers_ hold for you?” Tex pressed.

“None, obviously,” CT replied, as if the question offended her sensibilities. “That’s why I’m leaving. Sorry you weren’t as interesting as I had hoped, Texas.”

Somewhat dumbfounded, Tex watched CT walk through the door before she pulled her fist from the wall. Her eyes narrowed on other hero’s back just as the woman came to a stop and let out a long breath. 

“By the way,” CT said lowly, looking over her shoulder. “You’re on the right track.”

“What?” Tex asked, tilting her chin up. “What’s _that_ supposed to mean?”

“Your questions you have. About the training. About the way this program is ran,” CT continued, eyes narrowing. “Keep asking them. Especially about the monsters in the training room. Ask them. But not to anyone you can’t trust yet.”

For a moment, Tex pondered the clue. “What? Who can I trust? _You?”_ she scoffed.

CT shook her head and continued out into the halls of Freelancer. “I thought you were smarter than that, Tex,” she said almost disdainfully. “Don’t trust _anyone._ You should _know_ that.”

Tex stood in her room with her broken doors and walls, fists still clenched. She glanced down to them and thought about the feels of the punches, the rub of her knuckles against everything she had punched since she got to Freelancer. 

And then she remembered the monster that started it all and what Carolina said about how it was made. 

Her fists clenched tighter. Perhaps CT was right. Maybe something _was_ up with Freelancer. More than stupid costumes and petty leaders. 

Maybe it needed someone to figure it out first. 


	17. The World's Finest

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So by my standards this chapter is LATE and I can’t apologize enough for that, real sorry guys. I don’t have much of a defense besides the fact that things just got a little more hectic than called for in my regular life but I’m back! And I hope to not get so behind on updates again! 
> 
> Special thanks to @thepheonixqueen, @washingtonstub, @secretlystephaniebrown, @freshzombiewriter, @ashleystlawrence, @the-anonymous-fangirl, @analiarvb, @100wordsummaries, Zambo, @notatroll7, @ephemeraltea, Yin, staininspace, and Ms-Aqua-Marvel on tumblr and AO3 for the feedback!

“Snazzy. Back in black, I see!”

Tex looked at the mirror a little longer, her half cocked smirk looking good with the black and yellow ensemble on her person. The gloves were a nice touch, even if the boots would stand as her favorite accessory regardless. She _hated_ to hand anything to Church, but he damn sure seemed to know how to send design specs for her style.

When she was fully finished with soaking in her appearance, Tex finally turned enough to see York’s head and shoulders sticking through the wall. His visor might have been on but she could tell he was assessing her, eyes probably more focused than his easy smile would betray. 

“I could have kept preening for another minute or two. Were you going to waste energy and stay half-tangible the whole time to wait for me to notice you looking cool?” she mocked as she folded her arms.

“Absolutely,” York answered as he came through. “Your costume’s missing something. Like sleeves maybe.”

Snorting, Tex flexed. “And miss the opportunity to show every dirtbag around _exactly_ what they will be dealing with as long as I’m around? Nah.” She turned to the counter and grabbed her sunglasses. “Besides, a friend of mine says he has something in the works. I’d hate to disappoint him and get some high end brand accessories and not his crappy homemade stuff.”

“Eh, what good are friends if you can’t hurt their fragile egos in jest,” York shrugged. 

Humming slightly, Tex ran her fingers over the rim of her sunglasses, watching the glint of the light reflecting back. “Speaking of fragile egos,” she began.

“Uh oh,” York laughed, knowing full well what was to come.

Still, Tex turned to him carefully and looked him over. “How’s Carolina feel about me getting the hundred points I needed to be street certified.”

“Contrary to popular belief, the Boss doesn’t tell me _everything,”_ York replied with a wave of his hand. He leaned back against the wall and looked at Tex.

Casting him a dull expression, Tex waited expectantly. 

The senior Freelancer sighed and melted visibly under the pressure as he gave a wave of his hand. “Okay, fine. She’s pissed. And I think impressed. But mostly pissed.”

Sucking in a breath of her own, Tex hackled. “Ah, yes. The very reaction that fuels me.”

“Hey, now,” York shrugged, walking closer to her. “For what it’s worth? I think you two would actually get along. You’re _way_ more alike than different. Take it from someone who’s divided his time between the two of you.”

“I don’t think I’ve been more insulted since the last time I dumped my boyfriend,” Tex remarked with a blink. “That’s quite an accomplishment, York. Congrats.”

“Oh, stop,” York groaned. “You know, just because you have all the points you need for certification doesn’t mean much about actually getting out on patrols and missions yet, right? Carolina is still going to pick teams for assignments, and unless you two make up with each other over _whatever_ pissy fight you guys are having–”

“Not happening because she’s a complete tool,” Tex snapped.

“Right, well _because_ you guys are refusing to be adult-type-people here,” York continued, “you’re just not going to be put on any assignments. And _then_ who’s going to be the chump?”

Without any hesitation, Tex crossed her arms. “Still her.”

York shook his head. “Can’t say I didn’t try.”

“Yeah, well,” Tex rubbed at her neck awkwardly before glancing to him again. “For what it _is_ worth… I appreciate you being the least… _assholy_ of everyone on this team to me. Everyone else has basically avoided me at the behest of Queen Speed. You’ve been… reluctantly approachable. And while I don’t think anyone should turn tail on their team when they’re truly part of one… _thanks.”_

For a brief moment, York bothered to look taken aback before grinning at her. “Whoa. _Bonding._ That’s never a good sign.”

“Oh, shut up and take it,” Tex replied, heading for the door. “I’m heading out into the open with my _non-_ Carolina approved suit just to remind everyone who’s not taking shit anymore.”

“Hold up,” York called, stepping in line behind her. “I think you’re forgetting something!”

Tex paused to begin and ask just what that could have been when she noticed York holding up a Freelancer mask visor. The very unified symbol all of them wore in the field to keep information up to date and the crowd from questioning just who they were.

“What, I just take it from you?” she asked, cautiously reaching for him. 

“That’s the idea, welcome to the club,” he replied.

Grabbing the visor, Tex looked it over in her hands before shaking her head. “Wow, no ceremony or anything. Just. Here you go. Hope you like wearing our shit.”

“Eh, the real ceremonial stuff will be once you’re making headlines in the public eye. _That’s_ when we’ll start letting the press know how much we appreciate having you on the team and how many of us knew you were going to be the best of us the whole time. Probably some of those so-called assholes you mentioned who haven’t even talked to you yet,” York said, his voice laced with as much humor as it was truth.

“Huh,” Tex sai, pausing to run her thumbs over the visor before finally putting it on herself. 

It took a moment, everything dark before her vision just before a green light appeared in her gaze, letting her know that it was switching on. 

With a flicker of light, Tex could see in front of herself again, her vision strangely not impaired by the visor at all, as if she were wearing glasses rather than a screen in front of her own face. She even waved her hands to check the real-time speed of it all.

The main difference – and, given, it _was_ a rather large difference – was that across the HUD screen there ran an output of various feeds directly from Freelancer’s main computer system itself.

Still, Tex could easily see how it’d take only a short amount of time to get used to, with the main feeds far from her direct line of sight. It was the sort of ingenious design that, like every other technical marvel she encountered since joining Freelancer, she wondered just _who_ she could contribute it to.

“Digging it?” York asked cautiously, tilting his head as he came into view.

“The advantages this gives couldn’t _possibly_ make up for how dorky we all look with these things strapped to our faces,” she said with a dismissive shrug before walking toward the door again. 

“Well, you better get used to it. Standard equipment is field-required,” York began just before the alarm breech began to go off. 

They both looked up as the lights flickered blue and the intercom’s long, blaring noise sounded everywhere across the base. 

The first few times Tex had been privy to the alarm, it had been startling. Every time after that it had been an annoyance.

But then, _right_ that moment, as a full member, as street certified, as _Texas_ , Tex felt an enthusiastic euphoria overcome her. She was ready for almost anything because for the first time in weeks, that alarm meant _she_ could have been assigned to the field. 

“Well, looks like time for a briefing,” York said, joining Tex in the near automatic run that broke out toward the command center. “You ready to get an assignment?”

“Please,” Tex snorted. “I was heroing _long_ before I felt Freelancer was worth my time. I’m ready for anything.”

She was mostly ready, though, to be disappointed in a lack of assignment. 

The rest of the Freelancers were gathered around Carolina already, the redhead taking the time to pause mid-briefing to look at York and Tex as they entered the room. Her mouth hung slightly and she looked genuinely surprised by Tex’s wardrobe, which was more than enough to satisfy Tex at the time. 

The surprise dropped quickly, though, in favor of a soured scowl that Tex was more used to from their illustrious leader. 

“Glad you could finally join us, _Texas._ I suspect the tardiness had to do with yet _another_ change in wardrobe,” she said in an angry, curt tone. 

Ignoring the fact that York was just as tardy as her without the grief, Tex just rolled her eyes. “Sure. If it makes _you_ happier, Fearless Leader.”

Carolina’s jaw set, but rather than rise to the bait she turned her attention to the raised hand of one of the younger sidekicks. “Go ahead, Theta.”

“How long exactly to missions in space take?” he asked timidly.

Blinking, Tex paused and put her hands on her hips. “Wait? _Space?_ There’s a _space mission?”_ she asked.

Honestly, she knew that Freelancer’s obligations reached far and beyond the city, she knew that they had dealt very publicly with the strange and unusual, and it was more than just strange tentacle monsters from dimensions-or-time-or-whatever. But what she never thought was how _she_ could have been involved with such things. 

Punching a crime lord alien in the slums of Blood Gulch was one thing, sure, but Tex never saw herself going to town with E.T. 

“You would know that if you had been here on time for the briefing,” Carolina dismissed with a wave, not even looking away from Theta. “As for your question, Theta, these sorts of space missions often take at least a week. Sometimes several. And considering the diplomatic concerns involved with Sangheilos at this time, and with the tensions with our own allies in the galaxy, I’d say we could expect the latter to be the case.”

Tex thought back to the peculiar case of Crunchbite and his mini-reign of terror in Blood Gulch. 

Usually she would have left the department of _questioning_ and _motives_ to Alpha, but he wasn’t there. And when she had no choice but to look at the situation for what it was, it didn’t make a whole lot of sense to her. 

What had brought the seeming-alien to Earth? To _Blood Gulch?_ And why wasn’t anyone concerned about him setting up shop in the worst part of town if these Sangheilis were an enemy of their alien alliances at Freelancer? It didn’t seem like she had all the pieces together. 

She didn’t like it.

But, at the very least, she knew she could punch these guys, and her multiple rounds in the ring with Crunchbite had given her plenty of opportunity to hone those punching skills to an art. 

Reluctantly, Tex raised her hand. It earned her a teasing look from the other Freelancers who had grown accustomed to her brash demeanor toward their leader.

Carolina merely looked annoyed. “ _What_ , Texas?”

“I’ve dealt with one of these things before,” she informed them, earning a curious rumble from the other gathered heroes. “I know how to take them down, and I know how to do it quick. I think I’d be an asset here.”

There was a quiet glare between the two women.

“Is that so?” Carolina asked. “Well, considering you’re only _just_ certified for street patrol _and_ that we know, for a fact, you’ve never been off-Earth for anything, I disagree.”

“Disagree?” Tex ground out.

“I disagree both with your claim you’ve dealt with a Sangheili and with the idea that you’d be an asset in a situation you’re neither experienced in _or_ briefed properly for,” Carolina continued, though for once her tone didn’t seem as biting. More, she sounded _matter of fact._ And Tex believed that that was even _worse._ “Though we are content to have you _finally_ certified for duty as an official Freelancer, Texas. Congratulations. I am assigning you, Connecticut, Washington, and Wyoming to monitor duty. Wyoming will be working under the Director as B-Team leader.”

“What the…” Tex spat out, shocked at the dismissal. “ _B-team!?_ And you’re calling me a _liar?_ To my _face!?_ How dare–”

“The rest of us are loading up and heading out immediately for our rendezvous in the Zeta Quadrant,” Carolina interrupted, putting her data pad away. “I don’t think I need to tell anyone who’s going to be driving our space ship.”

“Like she’d let anyone else,” York muttered with a laugh.

"Alright, people, let’s move out,” Carolina ordered just as everyone turned to do just as ordered. 

York reached to pat Tex’s shoulder but she slapped it away before she could even detect any condescension from the action. Her focus, her burning anger at the moment, was focused instead on their aqua-clad leader. And she made no bones about marching up to her directly.

Carolina tilted her head. “Texas,” she said evenly. “Let me guess, you take issue with your assignment?”

“I take issue with you _lying_ in front of our entire team to make yourself look good and _me_ look like an idiot,” she snapped. “You were there – _Wash_ was there, York – there’s security footage of me taking on that bastard alien when he attacked the compound! You _know_ I have experience. You don’t want me on the mission to save your fragile ego? _Fine._ But don’t you _dare_ try to take my accomplishments from me. Unlike many people here, I have scrapped by on every ounce of ambition and pride in me to make it to where I am.”

The leader stood silently, arms folded against her chest as she waited to let Tex finish. She then tilted her head back. “Are you finished?”

Tex glared off, her fists clenched. 

“Good,” Carolina continued. “Your performance – the on that landed you entrance to Freelancer – was well done. Impressive. _Infuriatingly_ so.”

Blinking in surprise a few times, Tex turned and looked at Carolina in complete loss. “What?”

“But it was _not_ against an alien,” Carolina corrected. 

“What the hell are you going _on_ about!?” Tex demanded, waving to the computers behind Carolina. “Part of your stupid training has been making me memorize every goddamn file in this place _and_ I’ve gone against that fucker Crunchbite a dozen times already! He matches every description! Even _Alpha,_ who has experience with Sangheili back when he was with this shithole, said that was what he was.”

Carolina shook her head and sighed almost tiredly. “You’ve got a lot to learn, Tex. Sorry. It’s just the truth. And I won’t have you in space when we need people here and I have people with _actual_ experience who I can take with me.”

“This entire team is utter _bullshit,”_ Tex announced, frustrated to the point that she was seeing red. Her fist was through the nearest wall before she could even catch her breath and realize that Carolina was on her way out.

With a growl, Tex pivoted on her heels and yanked her fist out of the wall’s new hole. “What? That it? Not even going to defend Freelancer’s honor as you lovingly to hold it on your shoulders?”

Looking over her shoulder, Carolina shook her head. “Protect your city, Texas. Your talents are needed elsewhere. And, arguably, they’re not on monitor duty. But they’re not needed on my mission either.”

“Fuck you,” Tex hissed as the door slid shut between them. 

A deafening silence fell over the room and Tex was forced to listen to the strong and hurtful thrumming of her heart in her chest. It was too much – the whole system, the Freelancers, it was all too much and she had to break the silence with a roar and another fist flying through the nearest desk before collapsing into a chair. 

It wasn’t _fair._

“Some _real_ bureaucratic bullshit, huh?”

For a moment, Tex didn’t bother lifting her head. She just clenched her teeth and waited to hear the tell-tale signs of CT heading out without anything left but a few more smart remarks, but the silent vigilante kept where she was, unmoving. 

Looking up at last, Tex glared at the detective of Freelancer and saw her sticking to the shadows of the far corner, no doubt where she had been the entirety of the mission. 

“Here to talk in riddles?” Tex asked sharply. 

“No,” CT responded, tilting her head to the side. “But I _do_ think you’re taking this the wrong way from our Fearless Leader.”

A bitter laugh ripped its way through Tex’s chest. “I _doubt_ that there’s a wrong way to take it. The message is somewhat _loud_ and _clear.”_

“You don’t think it’s an odd coincidence that the two people who are most curious about Freelancer’s… _curiosities_ as a program – one who is actively ostracized for asking questions, the other who has a deeply personal relationship with a high-profile Freelancer dropout – just _happened_ to have been left behind?” CT asked.

Tex stared at her for a moment before pushing back up to her feet. “You think Carolina left us behind with practically the whole base to ourselves because one of your inane conspiracy theories is onto something?” 

There was a quirk to the corner of CT’s mouth that almost looked like a smile. “That’s a possibility,” she said. “Though it’s also likely that we were chosen to be left behind because I have no powers or assets useful on a space mission and you and Wash are both untested rookies in the field.”

“That seems more likely to me,” Tex huffed, crossing her arms.

“Of course, she _did_ raise a huge red flag about your old friend Crunchbite for no reason,” CT shrugged before walking toward the door. “In any case, I’m checking on a few leads while the excitement of seventy percent of our group leaving still has the attention of anyone who would be watching.”

Taking a few steps behind her, Tex shrugged. “Want company?”

“Never,” CT said before producing a data pad and showing Tex a link to the security cameras. “Besides, you have someone waiting on you.”

"What?” Tex asked back, reaching for the pad and seeing for herself a view from the front door’s camera. 

From the bird’s eye view she could see the figure of a hunched over and uncomfortable man with a blue hoodie pulled up, attempting and failing to contain a mess of black hair, and thick sunglasses on. He had something folded under his arm.

“Good god,” Tex said with a roll of her eyes and a tug of a smile at her lips. “He actually came over. What a dork.” She turned to return the data pad to CT. “Here, I’ll go catch my dweeb then you and I can–”

But the other Freelancer was departed, leaving Tex to blink in place for a moment before shaking her head and putting the pad down on the nearest desk. 

“Whatever. Powerless freak. I’ll just catch her later,” she sighed as she went through the doors and walked the halls.

It was amazing how instinctive her sense of direction had become in the short amount of time she had spent cloistered in Freelancer’s base. She knew seemingly every shortcut, every spare room, every garage for every high tech Freelancer vehicle. 

And she knew how to pop up in front of her would-be boyfriend in three minutes flat.

Church nearly jumped out of his skin, sunglasses falling down his nose a bit as he looked at her in surprise. 

“What the – where’d you come from!?” he asked, looking around. 

“Oh, it’s amazing what you can do when you know your way around here,” Tex said with a wave of her hand. “Don’t think too much about it.”

“ _You_ don’t think too much about it,” Church replied petulantly. “Don’t forget, I practically built this place with my barehands! No, really. They were controlling the robots that were constructing most of the older sections of this compound.”

Tex smirked at him and shook her head. “I’m curious, Church. Do you think you could go a full day without patting yourself on the back?”

He smirked back at her, eyes flickering over the edges of his glasses. “Depends. Could I build an Alphabot with an arm to pat me with for that day? Because then, _maybe…”_

“Shut up, dork,” she replied. “Show me the goods.”

“Eh, it’s not much,” Church shrugged, pulling the package under his arm out. “Tucker and I had to pull together for it to get it monogrammed and shit. For some reason we both got a bonus last week from Mister Flowers, too. I don’t know. Weird old man. But it was enough to help with this and… I guess I hope you like it. Or are at least not a total bitch about _not_ liking it.”

Tex rolled her eyes and grabbed the package from him, ripping it open and looking at the fresh, black leather beneath. 

She smirked and ran her fingers over it before pulling it completely from the packaging, looking at the yellow rose and the star insignia – _her_ insignias – stitched into the back. 

It was just what her costume needed.

“It… okay?” he asked awkwardly, apprehension clear on his face. 

“Well,” Tex said, dropping the packaging and slipping into the new jacket, “you know how you keep moaning about us needing to be official or whatever-the-hell?” 

“Yeah?” Church asked just before letting out an indignified squawk as Tex grabbed him by the strings of his hoodie and landed a kiss on his lips. 

It didn’t take more than a second of shock for Church to grab her jacket back excitedly. And it made it okay to be left on Earth just a little longer.


	18. City Fall

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter down, and we’re REALLY ramping it up now. There’s only six chapters after this one! That is absolutely horrifying to me! But I really hope you guys are enjoying this all and ready for some secrets to be revealed and, just maybe, some more to come up ; ) 
> 
> Special thanks to @thepheonixqueen, @secretlystephaniebrown, @ashleystlawrence, @analiarvb, @freshzombiewriter, @the-anonymous-fangirl, @washingtonstub, @notatroll7, @sugarfirervb, NidgetMinja, @spooky-circuits, Yin, @ephemeraltea, SoDaLaFaMiDoRe, and staininspace on tumblr and AO3 for the feedback!

Washington hung back as Tex took the attack straight to the duo headed monster herself. He seemed reluctant to at first, but CT’s orders were enough to keep him hanging back.

After all, the former sidekick really was only an equal to the rest of the team on paper. And he had spent the last handful of years being completely obedient to everything CT ordered from him.

CT kept back herself, being powerless her contribution was mostly off the cuff strategizing and a penchant for uniquely helpful gadgetry. And even she knew when it was just time to let Tex punch something. 

Which, of course, was to say that it was _always_ time for Tex to punch something.

With a growl, Tex leapt off her feet, muscles straining even for her in order to get the height she needed. Then she came down on the twin headed beast with all her might. Her fist ground into the dominant’s head skull, and she could feel the scaly body give way.

There was a deafening crack in the air then, as suddenly as the monster had appeared in downtown, the whole mess was over in a rain of alien goo and guts. 

Her whole weight thrown into the punch, Tex tumbled gracelessly into the spot once occupied by their foe. She landed straight on her back in the mess and stared angrily as the storm of disgust waved over her. 

“My landings leave something to be desired,” she observed as CT and Wash’s heads came into view. 

“Your _everything_ leaves something to be desired,” CT said, not following Wash’s cue in offering Tex a hand up. Instead she walked closer to the mess and began looking around through the remains. “I need something in _tact_ for my sample.”

Tex huffed her thanks as Wash helped her get to her feet and then shook from head to toe. Not that it did much to get rid of the grossness. 

“Are you two ever going to clue me into what you’re investigating for?” Wash asked. He turned to face CT more directly while she kicked over the more intact of the two heads and hummed at the new angle. “I mean, it’s been basically the three of us on _every_ mission around town since the others left.”

“With no break,” Tex added in a grunt. She held onto her right shoulder as she rotated it. 

CT hunkered down over the beast and began scraping samples from its scales, putting them in small collection baggies she produced from her belt. “Complaining about grunt work isn’t going to win either of you any points with the team.”

“I’m not complaining,” Wash said. “I really appreciate being first call out in the field to protect our city. I just don’t know what _you’re_ doing every day. And you used to keep me updated on everything. You used to trust me. Now you don’t tell me anything.”

“You’re not my sidekick anymore,” CT said. “Work it out on your own.”

Tex stood between the two with a curious expression of her own, looking between them as the tension grew. 

When the silence went nowhere, Tex let out a snort and waved them off. “Whatever. Rookie here–”

“Rookie? You showed up after _I_ did,” Wash reminded her.

“Right, _rookie_ here,” Tex continued with a thumb thrown his way, “has one point at least. And that’s that with the Away Team all radio silence on us, and Wyoming apparently _totally_ satisfied with monitor duty and kissing the Director’s ass directly so I never get a chance to lay eyes on him, the three of us have been ran up and down every inch of this city.”

Satisfied with her samples, CT put the baggies away and got to her feet. She then turned and looked at them both curiously. “Your point being…?”

“My point is that I need to check up on some things and if you don’t mind covering for me, I’m going to cut out for a few hours,” she said, walking toward the Freelancer loaner vehicle.

Looking a little surprised, CT trailed after her. “Wait, what do you mean? Where are you going?”

“Where do you think?” Tex asked, grabbing her bike. 

Before CT could answer, Washington stepped up. “She’s probably going to Blood Gulch. Her old neighborhood romp.”

Leaning back in her seat for a moment, Tex peered up and down at Wash before tilting her head. “And how did you know that?” she asked. 

“It’s not that hard to figure out,” Wash said simply enough. “Unlike whatever it is you two do with those samples you gather after all these fights. Some sort of investigation? A challenge to Freelancer’s great detective?”

CT waved him off. “Go get our own vehicles ready, Wash,” she ordered.

“But–”

“Now,” CT said flatly. The stare she gave over her shoulder was apparently enough to convince the former sidekick to do just that, however. And left CT and Tex with a fleeting moment of privacy. The detective concentrated her stare on Tex instead. “You can’t get flakey on me now, Tex. I’m close to figuring out the connection between our training simulators and these beasts that have become increasingly problematic for the city. We are close to exposing Freelancer for any responsibility for these things.”

Tex put on her helmet. “ _If.”_

“Excuse me,” CT said, sounding not apologetic in the slightest.

“ _If_ there is a connection. You haven’t proven that there is one yet,” she reminded CT. “We need to be able to prove it and we don’t have it yet. And as good as I am at being the dumb jock for your chess club captain in this, my punching these things and getting you goop only proves so much. You need someone trained to think more like you. Why _not_ let Wash in?”

“Wash wants to be a superhero and prove something,” CT said lowly. “I’m not convinced he wouldn’t take it the wrong way and see _us_ as some sort of traitors.”

"Whatever,” Tex said, turning the key in the ignition. “It’s your choice, I’m just the muscle in this investigation. Tell or don’t tell whoever you want. But I really _do_ need you to cover for me while I’m in Blood Gulch, alright?”

CT studied her carefully before backing off. “Don’t draw too much attention to yourself.”

Tex tilted her head. “I’m a public superhero who has been plastered all over the news for the past three weeks and am currently covered in slimy alien goop. How could I possibly draw attention to myself?”

Before CT could really give an answer to that, Tex took off at nearly full speed. The splash of guts and goo beneath her tires only _partially_ on purpose as they were, after all, partners and not friends. Not by Tex’s estimate anyway.

She wasn’t so certain CT _made_ friends, even with her oldest Freelancer teammates.

But Tex trusted the vigilante enough to know that Tex’s break from protocol wouldn’t be broken to Freelancer command by her. 

In the weeks they had taken to protecting the city while the space team completed whatever ridiculous mission it was that Carolina took them on out of sight and out of mind, Tex had become indispensable to Freelancer, CT, and the whole of the city. But it also meant that her neighborhood had been without her special brand of attention for just that long, too. 

If not longer. 

She had been so busy training and _becoming_ a Freelancer that Tex had barely taken time to realize she hadn’t seen Church or Tucker much outside of a webcam. And while she may have refused to feel sorry for her achievements, there was a certain _feeling_ in her chest at that thought. 

Though even such feelings could not have prepared her for rolling into Blood Gulch only to see an uptick in the architectural shittiness. 

If possible, in just the months since she had last seen Blood Gulch herself, the neighborhood was more rundown. There were more boarded windows, more potholes, and a certain air of anarchy that was foreign even to her. Probably something best gotten across by the rampant and new gang signals sketched across the buildings. 

Tex paused at the first corner on her way to the community college just long enough to try to figure it out. Was the neighborhood worse, or had she truly become so fond of her broken little slice of dystopia that she had forgotten it for what it truly was? 

By the time the light changed, Tex wasn’t sure she knew the answer. 

Not until she arrived on campus and saw that the grass had not been cut since approximately her last visit. 

“What the hell is going _on_ around here?” she asked, parking back in the alley at her usual spot, grabbing the civilian wear she usually kept hidden – ignoring the dust and grime of a few months’ rest – and took her usual route to the cafeteria. 

The inside of the building at least looked only its average level of decrepit, though one of the hall lights was beginning to flicker. And she was almost relieved to see Tucker at the cash register, bent over his phone and thumbing away at the screen with no regard to his actual occupation. 

It felt like the first bit of relief she had felt in ages. 

With a smirk, Tex strode over to him and immediately grabbed his visor to pull it down over his eyes. 

Tucker tilted back in his chair almost ready to fall back completely, a high pitched yell squeaking out from his throat. His phone went flying, but Tex opted to grab him by his apron and keep him from cracking his head rather than go for the device. 

“Who the fuck–” Tucker began to say before being interrupted by Tex’s laugh. 

“Hey, fucker,” she said warmly.

He smacked his visor off the top of his head and then looked at Tex in complete amazement, smirk growing across his face. “Holy shit! _Tex!_ You’re back – and you _stink._ But that’s almost a relief! I was beginning to think your shit didn’t stink anymore with how you don’t come around here anymore or anything.”

"Nah, just avoiding the likes of you,” she returned with a softer punch to his shoulder than usual. He still rubbed at it like a wuss, however. As amusing as it was, however, Tex’s eyes were already darting around the cafeteria. “Hey, where’s Church at?”

Tucker blinked a few times before tilting his head back toward the main office. “He got a phone call so he rushed off to Flowers’ office to take it.”

More than a little put off by the information, she glanced at Tucker. “How’s your boss like his office being used for personal stuff?”

“I don’t know,” Tucker said with a shrug. “He’s been out sick for a few weeks. I honestly don’t even know who’s been making our schedules for us. Weird, right?”

“Super weird,” Tex replied before walking toward the office. “Know who was calling Church?”

“Not you, I’m guessing,” Tucker yelled unhelpfully after her.

Feeling slightly on edge from the weird developments, Tex approached the office door with a more predatory strut than usual. She glared at the door’s silence and the fact that there was no light underneath its frame. 

Things were _not_ adding up, and it didn’t take a _detective_ superhero to see that much. 

When she reached the door, Tex tentatively held her palm against the metal knob. She wasn’t sure what she was expecting, but it felt normal enough all the same. 

Taking a thick breath, Tex flung the door open and found–

Church looked up from having his head sunk in his hands. His eyes wide and glowing blue against the lightless room. He looked so stunned to see her that Tex couldn’t help but wonder if her own shock could have compared. 

“Tex!?” he yelled, eyes immediately returning to normal as he darted to his feet.

And even though it was _Church’s_ place of work and she was the one who had all but fucked off for months at a time, she couldn’t help but give the response that came to mind. “What the hell are you doing in here?”

“You’re alive!” Church called out, ecstatic, as he came over to her and grabbed her shoulders. He gave a feeble but failed attempt to shake her with his enthusiasm. “Holy fucking shit! I… I heard the news and I got freaked out. So I was hacking the Freelancer mainframe to check on your status and it said you were out of commission and–”

Confusion swelled within her as Tex grabbed Church’s wrists and wrenched them away from her. “Church, what the hell are you talking about? Slowdown.”

“Tex,” he wheezed out. “I thought you were dead. Oh my god. I thought you were–”

Aggravated, Tex rolled her eyes and forcefully shoved Church down to sit back in his chair. 

While the would-be super villain blinked in awe of her, Tex reached over and turned on the light to Flowers’ office. 

“Now,” she said, “start explaining.” She glanced around, taking immediate notice of how barren and uninhabited Flowers’ office was – a trick in decor that did not at all match the flamboyant and affectionate personality of Church and Tucker’s boss. “What the hell’s going on in here?”

“So you didn’t know,” Church said, sounding relieved.

Tex looked back at Church, surprised. “Didn’t know what?”

Scowling, Church leaned forward against his knees, focusing intently on the steepling of his fingers. “Mister Flowers? Weird but nice old guy? He was a plant. He was never just an employee at the school. Freelancer put him here to watch over me, keep reporting on me. Because the sick fucker couldn’t even be arsed enough to call me up of he actually gave a damn about my wellbeing.”

“What?” Tex asked, slightly shocked. “You’re kidding.”

"No,” Church said, face growing that more displeased but thoughtful scowl Tex had come to expect from him. “I mean, first off who _would_ joke about something like that, Tex. It makes no sense. And secondly, obviously I’m not. Just look at this place! Completely wiped clean. No trace of him.”

“Okay, fine, smartass,” Tex said, crossing her arms. “But why would I have known about it? You were working at this shithole before I ever came to town, weren’t you?”

“Yeah,” Church said, “but you’ve been with Freelancer for months!”

“So?” Tex snapped, genuinely not seeing how the dots connected. 

“Flowers, as it turns out, was going by _another_ alias this whole time, too. _Florida!”_ Church announced. “I dug in deep enough to Freelancer’s computers and saw the whole file myself! Clear as day!”

Tex blinked in surprise. “What? Flowers wasn’t _Florida_ , no way!”

“He totally was!” Church yelled back.

“What? No,” Tex said with a wave of her hand. “Florida vouched for me to get into the program. Why would someone involved with your little pissing contest with Freelancer’s command structure do _that?”_

“To piss me off!” Church snapped.

For a moment, Tex stared at Church, waiting for some sense of self-awareness to flash across his person, but it never came. It never did, really. 

“I cannot _believe_  that all this time and you still think I only got where I am because someone is messing with _you,”_ Tex laughed, shaking her head. “I man, Church, _really._ Just fuck. _Off.”_

“That’s not how I meant it, Tex, shut up,” he snapped. 

“No, _you_ shut up, because every time we’re getting somewhere good, you go and run your goddamn mouth and just _ruin everything,”_ Tex seethed. “Why the hell do you always do that, Church? For _five minutes_ could you maybe _not_ think the world revolves around Leonard Fucking Church? Could you think that _maybe_ I’m just a pretty fucking great superhero?”

"Of course you are!” Church groaned, rubbing at his face like the entire conversation was getting to be an annoyance. “For fuck’s sake, how do we always get back on this?”

“Because _you_ keep fucking up in this same way every time!” Tex snapped back, throwing up her arms. “ _Miraculously_ fucking up!”

“It doesn’t matter,” Church argued, getting back to his feet.

“Yes it _does!”_ Tex yelled, getting up in his face.

“No, Tex, what I mean is that none of this was my point! My point bringing it up at all was because the news just came in that a bunch of Freelancers died in the field! The news doesn’t even have the whole list yet!” Church explained, holding up his phone with the news report. “I thought you were going to be on that list, I thought they were going to be getting rid of you–”

Tex stared at Church in complete shock. “What? What the fuck are you talking about?” she asked before snatching his phone. She read the headline, eyes widening as she looked through the scroll. “Freelancers died? What Freelancers? The only ones left right now were CT, Wash, Wyoming, and me and we all just saw each other–” Her eyes widened. “The space team!?”

Church tilted his head, confused. “What do you mean there were only four of you? Why would they split the team so unevenly. Holy shit, do you mean you’ve basically had the whole city for patrol _by yourself_ this whole time–”

“I’ve got to ask CT what’s going on,” Tex declared, beginning to turn for the door. 

“Wait, Tex! I just told you – they’ve put your status in the computers as _out of commission!”_ Church trailed after her. “If you’re not on that list of lost Freelancers, don’t you think that’s a pretty big fucking red flag that someone’s about to make you be!?”

Turning on her heels, Tex stared at Church. “Well, I invite them to _bring it!”_

No sooner had the words left her mouth than a ear popping _BOOM_ sounded off. 

In an instant, every table, chair, and napkin dispenser parted through the cafeteria, crashing into each other and sending said napkins flying. Tucker landed somewhere close to the salad buffet. The hanging lights flickered and Church curled his arms over his head in a shaky display before yelling out.

“Ow! My ears! What the fuck–”

Tex stood, chest beginning to burn with anger as she stared at the twitching, flickering redhead standing before her. 

“What the fuck are _you_ doing here!?” Tex demanded from Carolina. “What the hell happened on that mission!? What is going _on?”_

“I ran out of time,” Carolina said, almost so fast that the words ran together. 

There were flickers of static flying off her and her hair was sticking on end. Carolina honestly looked like she had gotten the shit kicked out of her. 

“Start explaining what the fuck is going on, Carolina, and explain it _now_ ,” Tex snapped. “That’s the least you can do after all the shit you’ve been pulling on me since you arrived in this city. So _talk.”_

 _“I don’t have time!”_ Carolina snapped. “You have to fix all of this now. End it with Alpha. Stop everything from going too far. If you don’t, it’ll all be because you didn’t know when to stop and let me _do my job–”_

“Who the fuck _is_ this chick?” Church demanded as he stepped up to Tex’s side. He was still rubbing at his right ear. 

“Carolina, Church says people _– Freelancers –_ are dead, and I’m out of the system,” Tex informed her. “What the fuck is going _on?_ And more than that, _what the fuck is your problem with me?_ You’ll have to get over it because there’s _something_ going on here–”

“There’s no time, I have to go,” Carolina said ominously before turning around, revealing some sort of machine strapped to her back like a backpack. 

“What the hell is that?” Church asked. 

Realizing that Carolina was readying to take off, Tex gritted her teeth and grabbed the speedster’s wrist. “Oh, no you don’t!” she growled.

_BOOM_

Before Tex could think, before she could blink or breathe or even feel her own feet leave the ground, there was a thundering noise that vibrated through her body, and a bright white flash before her eyes. 

She couldn’t even open her mouth as she felt like a turbine was facing her down, hair blowing back, wind beating across her face. 

The only thing besides the roaring in her ears that she could hear was a small, faintly familiar voice from Carolina. 

“Oh, no.”


	19. Days of Future Past

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize for being a day late with this one, guys! I’m both on vacation this week and also kind of anxious about this chapter because it answers a whole lot of stuff and sets us up for the final five chapters, which are an explosive romp. I hope you guys all enjoy!
> 
> Special thanks to @leonerdchurch, @thepheonixqueen, @secretlystephaniebrown, @washingtonstub, @analiarvb, @freshzombiewriter, @meteoratdusk, @the-anonymous-fangirl, @sugarfirervb, @ephemeraltea, Yin, @notatroll7, and @ashleystlawrence on tumblr and AO3 for the feedback!

The air was thick and choking, and despite herself Tex was having a hard time adjusting her eyes. There was something _hot_ and _wrong_ about the world around her. 

And she was _far_ from the community college cafeteria, that much was for sure. 

In the daze, she had almost forgotten her grip on Carolina’s wrist – or even Carolina at all – until the other superhero slipped from her hold. 

“What the fuck just happened?” Tex demanded, turning her full attention on the speedster. “Where did you take me?”

There was a mortified look on Carolina’s face as she continued to step back and away from Tex. Nothing coming out of Tex’s mouth seemed to be making any impact on her. 

“You… _You can’t be here!”_ Carolina said firmly. 

“Right, okay, princess,” Tex snapped before waving around to the decrepit buildings around them. “Where is _here?_ And I’ll start walking home right now.”

For a moment, Carolina wavered on her feet. But her mouth snapped closed and her expression hardened. 

“You can’t _walk_ home from here!” she scoffed, as if Tex’s confusion was the sign of ultimate ignorance. 

“Watch me,” Tex snapped back, beginning to step forward. 

She was no more than a few steps into her spite filled jaunt when there was a smaller crackle. Suddenly, Tex was face to face with Carolina once again only the redhead’s hands were firmly on Tex’s shoulders. 

“You don’t understand!” Carolina snapped. 

Tex gritted her teeth and easily smacked away Carolina’s hands. “You know what, Carolina? I don’t think _you_ understand,” Tex snapped. “Do. _Not._ Touch. Me.”

“Texas, _stop_ and _listen to me!”_ Carolina barked like a general.

“That’s it!” Tex snapped, moving to shove Carolina only for the speedster to move out of range. She let out a frustrated snarl and threw up her hands. “You want me to listen to you? I’ve been listening for _months_ now, and gotta say, Carolina, _haven’t heard anything worth continuing!_ And more than that, you’re so busy being a _bitch_ to me all the time you’ve not made the first effort to listen to _me!_ Especially when I’ve had some important shit I know.”

Carolina bared her teeth and stepped forward rather brazenly. “I don’t _need_ to listen to anything you have to say, Tex! I’ve _always_ known what you knew. There was _nothing_ you were going to say that I wouldn’t have already known!”

“Oh?” Tex growled back. “You know that CT and I have been on the case of these so-called monsters that keep attacking the city? You know that CT and I have found out that they’re fucking _fake?_ That they don’t match what your Freelancer files have about the aliens and monsters encountered in space?”

With a roar, Carolina threw up her arms. “ _Yes!_ Yes, I’ve known the whole goddamn time!” she screamed back.

“Oh, _really!?”_ Tex snapped.

“Yeah, _really!”_ the former Freelancer leader yelled back.

They squared off, jaws setting and eyes flickering with anger just before the bricks of the nearest wall broke, crumbling beneath the weight of a giant Crunchbite-esque monster leaping for them.

“Dammit!” Carolina snarled just before grabbing for something at her belt.

Tex narrowed her eyes and leaped in front of the speedster, arm held back before launching a full punch for the monster’s face. It roared and squealed as the ripples of the hit visibly vibrated through its tissues. The monster then dropped to the ground, jaws hanging awkwardly.

Breathing heavily, Carolina stared at the sight. She looked like she had seen a ghost rather than a monster. 

Having had about _enough_ of Carolina not making any sense, Tex grabbed the monstrous form in front of them and flung it out of the way. It left a clear passage out of the half wrecked structure they were inside. 

“Now,” Tex huffed angrily, “would you _mind_ explaining just what the fuck is going on here?”

For a moment, Carolina hesitated again and earned an eye roll from Tex.

“You know what? Fucking _forget_ it. I’m done here,” Tex snapped before going through herself. “I’ll get back to the city and find out just what the fuck is going on even if I have to _walk.”_

“You can’t get to the city by walking,” Carolina finally spoke up, running up to Tex’s side. “We’re… We’re _here._ This is _it._ This is the city.”

Tex stepped out of the building’s hole in the wall and looked around. The place, to say the least, was destitute. 

There were crevices where streets should have been, broken pipes spewing out from the broken pavement and sidewalk that existed. Buildings were boarded or sliced to pieces. It looked like a war zone. 

“Just what the hell is this supposed to be? Some kind of joke, or is this just that one street in Blood Gulch where Tucker swore people weren’t allowed to know about?” Tex asked, kicking over some of the rubble beneath her boot as she pushed forward. 

Carolina followed, slow and methodical with her head bobbing up and down as if she was looking for something.

After a silent moment, Tex considered repeating her question if only to get _some_ sort of response from the Freelancer leader. She stopped in her tracks, however, and watched instead as the strange device Carolina wore like a backpack continued to spark and vent heat. The speedster didn’t seem overly concerned about it, but Tex sure as hell was. 

“Is that thing about to blow up on us?” Tex demanded, nodding to the machine.

Setting her jaw, Carolina didn’t seem willing to say even one other word to Tex on anything. It was enough to make Tex tip up her chin and shake her head, pissed as hell.

Without warning, she surged forward and threw a punch toward Carolina’s shoulder, but it didn’t make its mark. 

The speedster appeared behind her, suddenly back to form. 

“What the hell!?” Carolina spat.

“You’re forcing me to force a reaction out of you!” Tex snapped. “Although I’ll be the first to admit that I’d enjoy it regardless of results.”

“I don’t know how much I should tell you,” Carolina admitted reluctantly.

“Yeah? How about _all of it?”_ Tex growled in return.

They stared off at each other for a long moment until Carolina’s head dropped again. She let out a long sigh and then motioned for Tex to follow. “I’ll walk you to the headquarters. Hopefully from there, they’ll be able to tell you what you need to hear. I don’t need to screw this up more than I already have.”

Feeling as though she had received absolutely no answer at all, Tex threw up her hands and scoffed. 

“I can’t believe this.” She put her hands on her hips and stood in wait. “You know what? Fuck it, Carolina. Either you start talking, or I don’t move. And you _obviously_ don’t want me standing around wherever _here_ is.”

It looked for a moment like a vein was attempting to escape just above Carolina’s brow line as she looked back at Tex. 

“You’ll just have to trust me until we get there,” Carolina seethed in warning before holding out her hand. “Now hold on.”

Tex squinted at the offered limb before holding her arms against her chest and refusing to budge. 

Once it was clear Tex wasn’t taking her hand, Carolina let out a frustrated roar and pulled at her hair. “You are being so stubborn!”

“Hey, fuck off,” Tex snapped in return. “Trust is _earned_ , Carolina. As a leader you should know that. And as a complete and utter bitch to me, you should know that you’ve done anything but _earn_ my trust here, alright? Prove to me just why the fuck I should follow you.”

“Because I can get us there in three seconds flat if you grab my hand,” Carolina snapped.

“Yeah, last time I grabbed you I blinked and was in _this_ hellhole, so _speak!”_ Tex growled. 

They kept each other’s glares for a moment before Carolina let out a frustrated noise and turned away. “This way,” she ordered. “And try to keep up.”

Holding her position, Tex waited. 

Carolina hung her head and sighed. “You and CT were right. And investigating Freelancer a little further would have you both realize that the endless string of Level One threats that the Freelancers had been dealing with for the last several years were artificial. Manmade. _Replicas_ of actual species found and fought throughout the many generations of superheroes who had become Freelancers before you.”

She didn’t know quite how to feel about the information, but at least content enough that she was _getting_ information at all, Tex took the steps to follow Carolina forward. 

“Of course, it’s hard to say what you would discover in this particular recursion because you and CT were not supposed to be on the leads for this case until two years after you had joined the program,” Carolina continued, taking Tex down an alley that seemed strikingly familiar the further they went. “And that time table was already accelerated because you spent at _least_ four years in Blood Gulch before ever fully becoming a member of Freelancer to begin with. Something you did at the behest of the Director.”

“The one I’ve never met?” Tex asked, quirking a brow. “And what the fuck are you even talking about? What do you mean I spent four years at Blood Gulch before joining Freelancer. That _obviously_ wasn’t true.” Tex huffed and nodded to Carolina. “You know. Despite your best efforts.”

“Please,” Carolina snapped, looking over her shoulder. “I was trying to prevent you from ever joining at all.”

"Yeah, well, guess you underestimated the sheer stubbornness factor,” Tex said, watching Carolina’s back carefully. “I don’t know if you’ve finally figured it out yet or not, but there’s _nothing_ that will make me do something faster than someone on the other end telling me not to.”

“I guess there _is_ something we have in common after all,” Carolina mused. “Unfortunately my father didn’t explicitly warn me about that factor when it came to you.”

Lip curling, Tex shook her head. “Sounds like he didn’t know me very well. And, _by the way,_ you and I don’t have anything in common so you might as well as stop there.”

Carolina slowed as they came to the back of a building that seemed boarded over. She raised a brow. “Oh, _really?_ Because I think we might have far more in common than either of us would ever like.”

Tex readied a hard retort but her gaze became distracted by the building itself. 

She looked at the grimy brick, ran her hands over the frame of the door, could practically _feel_ the vibrations of the old generator in the back that refused to fully die. Tex’s look hardened at the old place before she looked at Carolina. 

“This is my gym,” she said, first mystified, then _pissed._ “Why the hell did you bring me to my gym? Why does it look like this – I may have left for a while but it wasn’t _this_ shit before! What the hell did you do?”

Putting a hand on the frame of the door, Carolina never broke eye contact with Tex. “I didn’t do anything, Tex. Except failed to change the right things in the past. To prevent this from happening.”

“Stop talking in riddles and start making _sense,_ I swear to fucking god,” Tex ordered.

The moment was broken as both women looked to the door and saw a faint blue light trace the outline of Carolina’s palm. Then, suddenly, the door opened – but not the one that had been boarded up. 

The door opened beneath their feet and revealed they were standing on a platform that was lowering down underground. 

“By the time you and CT discovered what Freelancer was truly doing – falsely manufacturing crises and invasions in order to further the importance of _their_ superhero team opposed to all others – it was too late. What was built was an uncontrollable army of false Sangheilli monsters and more,” Carolina explained as the streets closed above their head and left them all but trapped, going down underground.

“An entire army?” Tex asked, maintaining her cool and focusing on Carolina rather than the truly bizarre elements at play.

“One under the hand of the Director. The one under the guiding force of the original Alpha,” Carolina said, eyes narrowing with each word. 

Tilting her head slightly, Tex narrowed her eyes. “Alpha? You know what, Carolina? Not a goddamn thing you’ve said since this all started has been making any sense.”

Crossing her arms, Carolina glared at Tex for a moment as the platform slowed to a stop. 

“Fine,” Carolina said, not bothering to look as the doors behind her opened. “Then you can ask _him._ ”

At first, Tex was simply debating the best way to squeeze more information out of Carolina and lining it up based on amount of justifiable pain. But the moment soon passed as she looked a the sewer-based laboratory their makeshift elevator had opened up to caught her eye. 

It wasn’t exactly an _impressive_ place to see. If anything, it made Tex realize just how state of the art Church’s apartment lab would have been without the Disney stickers and collectible figurines cluttering every available space. But it was still some icing to the utterly whacked out day’s cake she had been having since making the mistake of going to Blood Gulch and visiting her kind-of-mostly-boyfriend. 

“You’re back!?” someone yelled from the distant chair before spinning around. “Carolina, if you’re back then nothing’s changed–”

Tex looked at the man opposite her and didn’t know him.

There was something in the fullness of his goatee that she found unsettling, and the mess of salt and pepper hair, the twist of his crooked glasses on a nose that seemed to turn at an awkward angle. 

She didn’t know him. 

But it was damn well apparent that he knew _her_ from the look of utter horror and shock on his face. 

“Tex,” he choked. “A-Allison.” 

And with one word, Tex felt her chest clench as if it was in a vice grip. Suddenly those eyes, those sharp angles, that tremble in his voice – it all was too much to ignore. 

“Church?” she asked, stunned.

Carolina stepped forward, arms crossed and eyes glancing to the side. “Welcome to the future, Tex.”

Church seemed almost forced to pull his gaze from Tex in order to look at Carolina utterly horrified. He jumped to his feet and waved at her erratically. “Carolina! What the hell is this?”

"Can _no one_ ask me that _nicely?”_ Carolina demanded almost petulantly. 

“No,” Church and Tex snapped at once.

At once, the two regarded each other with some surprise. An uncomfortable silence fell between them. 

Church moved forward. Tex moved back.

“Please,” Church begged, reaching a hand out. “I just… I need to just… Please let me see your hand, alright? I need to check something.”

Tex squinted at the man. She knew if she weighed the reasons _not_ to trust this older Church against the reasons she should, there would be no competition. There was nothing to force her to give the man her hand outside of misplaced sentiment. 

She clenched her fist and stood her ground. But her eyes fell on that outstretched hand. 

When she gave Church her hand, his hand grabbed hers, thick calloused fingers running up and down her palm and fingers, searching for something. 

“Was it her other hand?” Carolina asked idly.

“Are you accusing me of not knowing which hand it was?” Church scoffed in such an obnoxious, _Churchy_ way that Tex felt herself instinctively relax. 

Carolina looked off in a huff. “ _You’re_ the one who brought up recursion theory and how minimal shifts wouldn’t be enough to set the timeline off course. _Sir.”_

Church scowled at the speedster for a moment before looking back to Tex. “Can I see your other hand?” 

For a moment, Tex hesitated but she ultimately gave her left hand up as well. She watched more intently as Church investigated it. 

“She doesn’t have the scars,” Church said to Carolina, like it was a particularly meaningful sentiment. Then he looked back to Tex, squeezing her hand. “You’re… You’re so young.”

"Pretty sure _you’re_ just old,” Tex replied dryly. Needing desperately to look at something other than her boyfriend’s abnormally aged face, Tex glanced over to Carolina. “Okay, I know you’re tired of it being asked, but what the–”

“You and CT were late in figuring out what Freelancer was doing,” Carolina said lowly. “And the Director, backed into a corner, unleashed the monsters he had been creating. The swarm was meant to overwhelm and kill the team. And then allow his newly groomed superheroes – the sidekicks he had been working with since nearly birth – to step up and act under his complete control.”

Tex glared at them. “And you’re telling me that _worked?”_

Church’s head dropped, his eyes squeezing tightly closed. “No,” he said. “The Sangheilli heard that one of their rogue parties was invading Earth, which was angering the alien council they were a part of. They came to stop them… only to discover that the monsters on Earth weren’t real Sangheilli but an abomination built to frame them. This allowed them to declare war.” He looked at Tex weakly. “The war killed you. And inspired me to… to… Make a grave mistake.”

“Ominous exposition is getting us nowhere,” Tex snapped. “Explain.”

“He allowed the Director to make the Alpha program… a global protection network that repelled further alien attack, but has kept the world under the Director’s thumb since then,” Carolina huffed. 

Taking a deep breath, Tex glared at Church. “You idiot,” she snapped finally. “You expect me to buy all this?”

“It doesn’t matter if you do, this recursion is being set more and more in stone every minute we waste here,” Church said, pulling away from Tex to begin inspecting the machine on Carolina’s back. “I sent Carolina in the past to keep you from joining Freelancer, from ever realizing what happened and setting the course of events that built this future. Including…” He looked meaningfully to Tex. “Including us. Making me care about you.”

For a moment, Tex let that sink in before letting out a loud growl and throwing up her arms. 

“You have to be fucking kidding me!” she roared. “End of the goddamn world and you _still_ manage to make it about you and forget to ask for my opinion on this stupid fucking romance! _God damn it, Church!”_

“What are you going on about?” Church scoffed. “You would stay together even if every single thing we keep the same as the previous recursive past inches fate closer to _this_ hellhole?”

“Out of spite?” Tex asked, eyes narrowed.

Carolina and Church stared at her for a moment before Church glared at the speedster. 

“This is what I meant about you being exactly alike,” he informed her.

“I am _nothing_ like her!” Tex and Carolina spat at the same time.

Defeated, Church sighed and flopped back into the chair behind him and looked dully forward. “Okay, fine whatever,” he grumped. “But… You’ve got to go back. And we’ve got to somehow make this work – if you’re not a Freelancer–”

“She’s already a Freelancer,” Carolina informed him.

Church glared at her. “Did we accomplish anything?”

“I… may have accelerated the events, actually,” Carolina admitted reluctantly.

Pinching his nose, Church groaned. “That… That is just so typical of a speedster I barely know what to say.” He then turned to Tex. “You have to go to the past and keep all this from happening. You have to keep us from… You have to stop us. And stop the Invasion. It’ll destroy the planet.”

Tex tapped her fingers against her arm. “And let Freelancer get away with their shit?” she asked skeptically.

“Yes,” Carolina and Church snapped immediately. 

“No,” Tex answered immediately.

“Tex! You’ve got to be _kidding_ me!” Church groaned. “Please–”

“Freelancer’s going down _and_ I’ll save the world,” Tex announced. “Because I’m _that_ fucking amazing. And I’m not going to change anything about how I live my life to do it. How about that?”

“That _won’t_ work,” Carolina said curtly.

“Watch me,” Tex warned. 

They stared at her before Church snapped something together on Carolina’s backpack. They then shared a look between each other. 

“This thing only has one more jump in it,” Church warned. “And you know I can’t build another.”

“It’s not like I’ve made any progress on my own in the last few weeks,” Carolina reminded him.

Tex crossed her arms and glared at them. “Oh, come on. Whatever the fuck you guys are doing, the _least_ you could do is send back so I can pretend none of this ever happened.”

Church rolled his eyes. “Tex, it’s recursive process. We’ve already changed things. The only thing keeping this timeline from collapsing right now is that Carolina’s time machine hasn’t broken yet. It’s changed. Just… we don’t know if it’s for better or worse.”

“Then just trust me,” Tex snapped. “For just once in our goddamn relationship _trust me_ to be the superhero and save the day. Send me back. Let me handle things. CT and I will have it covered.” She looked at Church meaningfully. “It’s not like there’s anything to lose by trusting me here, right? Your future’s pretty fucked. And I, for one, refuse to accept it.”

Stepping away from Carolina, Church looked worriedly over Tex. “I… Listen, I’ve not seen you – for me – in years. And if this is the last time… I just need you to know…”

Tex flinched back slightly, her chest feeling tight again. “God, don’t wast this last message or whatever it is telling me something I already know. Because I already know, alright? If you’re Church – if you and this dead-future-me were anything alike, don’t waste last moments here telling me the one thing you’d never have to say out loud. Not when you’ve never really told me what I’ve always wanted to hear from you.”

Church’s mouth closed and his eyes searched her face for a moment. There was a wateriness to his wavering mouth before he nodded. “I trust you. You’re the goddamn best. Of course I trust you to handle everything, make it right. No matter what dumb shit I say or do that makes you doubt it. 

Slowly, Tex nodded. “Thank you.”

There seemed to be an impulse Church was fighting – to grab her or kiss her or _something –_ but Tex was relieved it was successfully restrained. 

Instead, the old man turned to Carolina and shared an awkward, silent exchange. 

“I can’t come back to you after this,” she reminded him. “We don’t even know if there’ll be a… well, a _me.”_ Carolina paused before glaring at Tex. “If you do this right? If you change the past enough that none of this happens? Then I should be gone entirely. I may only be a product of this timeline.”

Tex crossed her arms and shrugged. “Or, I’ll kick so much ass I can just save everyone. How about that?”

Carolina held her jaw a funny way but her eyes were a giveaway to some primal fear she wasn’t sharing. Even as Church put an uncharacteristically gentle hand on her shoulder. 

The two of them shared a soft look as Carolina evened her breathing. 

“Goodbye,” Carolina told him.

“Good luck,” he said back. His gaze drifted back to Tex and Church swallowed. “Both of you, good luck. And-and please, Tex – if you can, look out for her.”

Tex squinted at him in warning.

“Right, you’re the best and don’t need direction, not trying to take away from that,” Church offered, holding up his hands in apology. “But this is for my peace of mind. You’re about to erase me – _this_ version of me, anyway – from existence. If Carolina’s still around, I’d like to know indefinitely that she’s got _the best_ watching her back.”

“Sure,” Tex shrugged. “What’s added pressure? Besides, I’m still waiting to learn this is all a dream anyway.”

“You can think it’s whatever you want, so long as you promise to make sure it doesn’t ever happen again,” Carolina barked, voice hoarse. She reached out her hand. “Are you ready to go back where you belong?”

“Yeah, sure,” Tex said, grabbing onto Carolina’s wrist. “The quicker the better.”

“Well, good thing that’s my specialty then,” Carolina said just before moving to take a step forward. 

There was a _BOOM_ , then, just like before, light and color blurred around them, and Tex couldn’t hear everything save the muffled snap of whatever was behind them folding in on itself. 

By the time the _BOOM_ had ended, Tex was tumbling onto the broken roads of Blood Gulch – a, perhaps, more familiar Blood Gulch – and letting out a grunt as she finally came to a stop. She looked around, eyes widening as she saw what looked like a monster attacking the streets. Then, behind it, four more. 

“Carolina!? Is this far enough back!?” Tex cried out before looking around. “Carolina?”

But there was no one there to respond. 

“Well…” Tex muttered. “ _Shit.”_


	20. God Loves, Freelancer Kills

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We’re so close to the final stretch, and also to learning the fates of many of our Freelancer buddies, which a lot of you have been correctly presuming from knowledge of Hero Time just what a ride that’s about to be. Hope everyone’s ready! And sincerely, I’m sorry for missing the Monday update schedule again – I drove for ten hours to get back to Alabama yesterday and just didn’t quite have enough energy to finish off the chapter by last night. I hope it’s worth the wait!
> 
> Special thanks to @thepheonixqueen, @allabtnothin, @analiarvb, @washingtonstub, @secretlystephaniebrown, @spooky-circuits, @freshzombiewriter, @ephemeraltea, @a-taller-tale, Yin, @ashleystlawrence, and @kizachi on tumblr and AO3 for the feedback!

A whole lot of information – and a _stupid_ amount of weight – had been shoved onto her shoulders in a very short amount of time. And while Tex didn’t really _appreciate_ those things, she had very little intention of letting any responsibility down. 

She wouldn’t be proving just how much she was _the best_ if she didn’t show everyone how to carry the weight of the world, after all. 

So despite the onslaught going on around her, Tex cupped her hands, stood at the highest mound of destruction she could find, and yelled at the top of her lungs. 

“Carolina! _Carolina!_ Where the fuck are you?” 

Tex barely lowered her hands to wait for a response when another explosion hit nearby through a beam of light. It was enough of a jolt to send her flying toward the building behind her. 

“What the fuck was _that?_ Do these things have _laser weapons!?”_ Tex scoffed, getting to her feet. “I don’t know if I think that’s badass or _fucking cheating!”_

She barely got the words out of her before another blast began to send the building behind her tumbling. It would have been simple to run away from had she not seen the woman standing numbly in the street about to get crushed.

Gritting her teeth, Tex flung herself at the civilian and sent them both rolling across the pavement just outside of the reach of the collapse. 

“Are you alright?” Tex asked as she pushed up over the woman. 

Looking past Tex’s shoulder, the woman let out an ear shattering scream right in Tex’s face for a response. 

Glancing over her shoulder, Tex saw the Crunchbite-esque monster over them, jaws vibrating with a roar as it took a swing for them. 

“And here I thought that after supposedly time traveling, the present was going to be boring,” Tex grinned, shoving the woman out of the way and pivoting herself to catch the monster’s swing, stopping its momentum almost entirely. 

At first, the beast didn’t seem to realize anything was even different. However, as its muscles buckled from the returned force of Tex’s arms, its jowls began quivering in its strange language of clicks, honks and _blarghs._

“I don’t have any idea what you just said,” Tex gritted out from her grin. “But I can assume it was insulting. And, _buddy,_ you don’t want to insult me.”

Finally releasing the monster’s fist, Tex used its own momentum to drive it into the cement before throwing a punch with all her might to the side of its face. 

In a terrible crack, the fight was over. And the monster – be it one of the true Sangheilli or a Freelancer clone – went limply tumbling across the ground. 

“Because I’m in a bad mood,” Tex finished, cracking her neck with a firm twist from side to side. 

“Th-thank you!” the woman she had just saved cried out before racing down the streets.

Having almost forgotten the civilian entirely, Tex turned and blinked in surprise as the woman ran off. “Yeah, sure thing,” she said. 

Once the woman was out of visible danger, Tex looked down to her fist. The punch she gave the monster had stung a bit more than she was used to and, surely enough, the skin of her knuckles was red and angry with one at least looking bloody. 

“That hasn’t happened in a while,” she said with vague memories of Alpha’s recent body guard of choice. 

Explosions and calamity were still sounding off in the distance and Tex whipped her head toward downtown to see the movement of strange, alien ships overhead. There was smoke and screaming – if any of the bullshit the ‘future’ Church had told her was true, she was beginning to think _this_ was similar to an alien invasion if she had ever seen one. 

“Carolina will have to wait,” she decided before looking to the left and to the right. “But I still don’t know if I should go to Blood Gulch first… or to Base.”

Grinding back on her molars, Tex gave the question serious consideration, looking back and forth between the locations. With the thoughts colliding in her head, she tightened her fists, feeling that sting of her knuckles, and remembering the few sons of bitches that could be responsible for the feeling. 

“That lugnut of a friend is still with Church,” Tex reminded herself. “And he’s got Tucker. He’ll be fine for now. Even if I epically fuck up and make that future he was alive, so what the hell, right?”

She looked toward the Freelancer base and huffed. 

“But CT doesn’t,” she reminded herself. “Dammit, I better not be too late. I _hate_ going it on foot.”

Without any further delay, she ran toward the Freelancer base, her head buzzing with the far off concern that she owed some sort of responsibility to Carolina. That there was something truly bugging her about the way the speedster and the supposed future Church interacted. 

“If nothing else,” she muttered to herself, “at least if I still had Carolina here it wouldn’t take as goddamn long to go on foot.”

The sentiment, however mocking, helped distract her a bit from the fact that the world was going to hell around her. Only a few blocks in and another honking, blarghing alien seemed to take notice of her and broke from his destructive concentration on a building to tackle her through a shop window. 

Tex snarled back, immediately kicking and punching her weight blindly into it 

Apparently surprised with her immediate forcefulness, the beast was easily cast off. 

Before it could recover, Tex grabbed one of the clothing racks and without any second thoughts began beating the beast with it. She knew its scale hide was tough, but a few well placed whacks and, just like Crunchbite, it went down. 

She huffed and dropped the bent metal bars. She sensed _something_ was watching her, though, and turned just in time to see all the people held up in the store staring at her in shock. 

Tex took a moment to be surprised as well before shaking her head and moving to one of the nearby coatracks. 

“Everyone get to an _actual_ shelter, alright? Unless this place has a basement level you can hide out in. Anyone know if it does?” she yelled out to them.

As she grabbed a decent jacket, one of the more annoyed civilians stepped forward. 

“And why should we listen to you?”

Tex scoffed and put on the black leather jacket. “I don’t see any of _you_ punching monsters and kicking a _ton_ of ass,” she snapped back before looking to the crowd with her jacket on. 

“Hey! It’s Texas!”

“She’s that new Freelancer!”

“I saw her in the news!” 

“She punched a guy through my car window. _It was awesome!”_

A mother clutched her child and looked worriedly to Tex. “Does this mean the rest of the Freelancers are around to stop this from happening, too? Where have you all _been_ during all of this?”

“I don’t know,” Tex admitted. “But I’m about to find out. Everyone hang tight.” She jumped through the window she had crashed through and then thought about the situation for a moment before looking back at the crowd. “And seriously, someone get on finding out about the basement. I think this – whatever _this_ is – is about to get ugly. Got it?”

They nodded in silent confusion and Tex forced herself to trust they could take care of themselves at least temporarily. 

She still needed to get to Freelancer base, and she sure as hell wasn’t going to get there any time fast if aliens were attacking her mid-run and civilians were running up to her for help. 

"Shit, maybe _this_ is why CT wears a full mask,” Tex mused. “And as much as I’d _like_ to take as much credit as possible for saving the world today, I think it’s best I use my _other_ talents.”

As she ran across the broken streets, Tex concentrated on projecting her active camouflage, disappearing to the naked eye.

Even with her power in use, she ran a risk. Especially while on the run, her active camouflage not perfect at keeping up with her movement and leaving a distortion to the images seen by those around her. 

More than once on the run she noticed the way people and invaders alike paused and looked her way. 

But she didn’t stop. She didn’t stop for anything. 

And by the time she reached Freelancer’s base, a sudden relief was coming over her. It was damaged, but it wasn’t fallen. _There was a chance._

All she needed to do was to find CT and, once and for all, put a stop to whatever madness had been driving the place. 

Even in lockdown, Tex knew entrances that were accessible to an active Freelancer. They had been drilled into her throughout the training and active duty. 

Avoiding the main entrance, Tex went to the nearest secret passage and pressed her hand into the hidden scanner. She held it for a moment, catching her breath, until she realized that it wasn’t reacting to her print scan at all.

“What the…” she began, slamming her palm against the pad again only to have no response. 

Confused, Tex stepped back and looked around, wondering if she had somehow in her excitement gotten the wrong area. But it wasn’t, she _knew_ it wasn’t.

Then she remembered what she had learned _before_ the field trip into the future. 

"Why am I not an active member on the roster?” she seethed angrily. “You know what, fuck it. I know where the door’s _supposed_ to be.”

Without any other warning, Tex slammed the back of her heel into the point where she knew the hidden door was, watching as the fake siding and plaster of the building dented in, showing its once perfectly concealed crack. She then continued her kicking until the door was loosened. 

Then, with a single solid punch, Tex sent the door flying into the passage. 

It wasn’t her most graceful _or_ dramatic entrance to Freelancer, but it’d do. 

Stalking the rest of the way into the building, Tex was taken aback by how all the electronics and lights were off. Her eyes narrowed. 

“Now, I _know_ this facility has backup generators,” she said lowly, continuing forward. “And it’s not damaged enough to blame this on that… So I’m thinking someone’s turned everything off on purpose. Which means this is probably best kept out of sight,” she continued to keep her active camouflage up as she continued forward, eyes darting from side to side in her search for _some_ sort of clue. “Let’s just hope that you’re behind this, CT. You’re the one who’s always supposed to have a plan. I’m just the muscle.”

She was almost out of the passage when she heard a low tsking noise echo around her.

Tex paused and looked around hurriedly, seeing no one. 

“The important thing about being part of a team, Dear Tex, is that everyone knows their part. It sounds to me as if you finally do. _Muscle._ This espionage and detective work truly _isn’t_ up your alley.”

Narrowing her eyes, Tex quickened her pace toward the main facility. “Yeah, well, that’s the good thing about making friends. They can cover my ass in the areas I don’t give two shits about.”

“Perhaps,” the voice continued. “But friends can also let you down. I believe you’re familiar with that, but I suppose we can all use reminders from time to time.”

By the time Tex had reached the command center, she had already made the firm decision of punching _whoever_ was talking in dick, and as expected, Wyoming was standing there in wait. 

“Well, well, if it isn’t the Director’s personal lackey,” Tex scoffed, beginning to step forward before she noticed behind Wyoming on the floor was a heap of a body, clad in brown. “CT!”

“Yes, now you see–” 

Before another word could come out of Wyoming’s mouth, Tex delivered on her earlier decision and punched the Freelancer’s crotch before sliding behind him to check over her partner. Her eyes widened as she saw that the detective was blue in the face – throat closed and covered in marks. 

“No, goddammit!” Tex snarled as she rolled CT–

–blue in the face – throat closed and covered in marks.

“Goddammit, no!” Tex snarled. She reached to roll over CT but there was a solid kick to her back. Caught by surprise, it was enough to send her forward, but it was going to be _nothing_ compared to the ass kicking she was about to give Wyoming for doing it.

Pulling CT’s body with her as she pivoted away from Wyoming, Tex growled. “What the hell? You wearing a cup or something. I thought I–”

But when she thought about it, Tex realized that she hadn’t landed the punch. Or had she? Had Wyoming moved? Was he on the other side of CT, or wasn’t he? _It didn’t seem right…_

“Dear Tex, you really _should_ answer your distress beacon more often,” he warned her. “The Director had called for both yourself _and_ our poor CT to respond to a crisis with our containment units. With so many of our comrades fallen, it’s important that those of us left work together. To make sure that Freelancer can stand united.” 

Tex glared up at him. “Did you do this, Wyoming?” she hissed at him, beginning to rise to her feet. “Did he _order_ you to do this? The Director?”

An unsettling silence carried between them and Wyoming cocked his head to the side. “Are you accusing me of murder, Texas? Murder of a friend and ally no less?”

“Well, if the boot fits,” Tex growled out.

“Did you not see the marks, have you not noticed the attack on the city?” Wyoming asked thinly. “It would seem to me that those of the creatures who made it into the facility before I was able to place it in lockdown are responsible. Doesn’t it you?”

Tex took a step toward him. “You sure like giving villainous speeches for someone who is innocent, Wyoming–”

Behind Wyoming, one of the screens to the command computers lit up. Washington’s face was clearly on it, the city being destroyed behind him. “Hey! Is anyone there? We had a communications blackout. I need help – some of the others have finally showed up but it’s not enough. We’re getting swarmed out here! Hello?”

Tex and Wyoming continued to stare at each other before the elder superhero let out a verbal tic and made his way toward the door. “Unless you want to continue accusing me of limiting our resources, I have a city to help save. And if there’s _anything_ I despise more than the death of a friend, it’s _wasting of my time._ Are we clear here, Texas?”

Still standing defensively over CT, she didn’t make a noise. Her eyes followed Wyoming out the door.

He paused and looked back with a shake of his head. “Now, if you don’t mind, once you’re finished mourning the fallen, do something _helpful_ and get your costume together. Help us save the city.” A glint shined on his visor. “We would hate to lose another comrade today when we cannot afford it.”

Once Wyoming was gone, Tex dropped to her knees and checked over CT. She was long dead, but Tex knew CT was nothing if not prepared for such a thing. She searched every pocket and band she could find on CT until finding two things she needed – a data slug and a phone.

For a moment, as she shoved the key piece of evidence into her pocket and turned the phone on, Tex caught herself smiling. 

Tightly screwing her eyes shut, Tex let out a shaky breath, head dropping as she stayed on her knees. Without ever fully realizing what she was doing, Tex put her hand on CT’s shoulder and squeezed it tightly. 

“I didn’t get here in time,” she admitted. “I’m… I’m sorry. But we’re going to have stopped this – to have stopped Freelancer and shown everybody just _who_ was responsible for it all and _everything._ I’m changing things. And I’m doing it no matter who thinks I can’t or who thinks they can stop me. I just… I needed you to know that, okay?”

She opened her eyes and stared at CT a moment longer before getting to her feet and dialing a familiar number on the phone. 

Pacing, Tex waited through the dial tones and the rings, eyes darting across the few screens and monitors that were functioning – watching as reports of more attacks and more alien vessels were entering the city. 

“Who the fuck’s calling me at the end of the world? How’d you get this number? And, if you’re a lady, how’d you like to spend the last moments of the world with a man who truly cares, baby?”

Tex let out a disgusted noise. “Tucker.”

“Tex!?” his voice lit up immediately. “Holy fucking shit! _Where have you been?_ Church and Caboose have been out looking for you!”

“They’re _what!?”_ she roared, turning from the screens to better concentrate on the phone. “Tucker! What the fuck? Do they not know there’s an _invasion_ taking place right now?”

“I told them, but they seemed pretty determined. I mean, you left in a hurry. Kinda. What happened anyway?” Tucker asked, voice becoming increasingly complacent. 

“It doesn’t matter. I’ll explain it later, it’s not important right now,” Tex snapped. “What _is_ important is that you get out there and bring those assholes back inside, alright? Tell Church I’m fine and will come over as soon as I’ve taken care of some things. But he has to _stay the fuck inside!”_

"How am I supposed to tell him that exactly? You want _me_ to go out in this shitstorm or something?” Tucker demanded. “Tex, what the fuck? They’re, like, _abducting_ people out there! Who knows what kind of ridiculous shit they’re doing!” 

“Tucker, I need you to do this, _please!”_ Tex begged, turning back toward the monitors. “I’ll be punching my way toward Blood Gulch as soon as I can, alright? I’m not losing more friends today, I’m… I just need you guys to be together and out of the way of any other shit going on. _Trust me to do this.”_

Tucker made a snorting noise on the other end of the phone. “Please. Saving the day? I’d trust you to do that in my sleep.”

Taken aback, Tex blinked before feeling a smirk come on. “You mean _my_ sleep, moron.”

“That’s what I said,” Tucker shrugged off. “Okay, okay. I’m going to go save our mutual embarrassment. But are you going to be okay after all of this?”

She honestly didn’t know how to answer that until she noticed the light flashing from the console – it was one of the communication channels, and specifically it was one that lifted her spirits. 

“I’ll be fine,” she assured him. “Now get moving.” 

“Going, _going!_ Yeesh.”

Not even waiting for Tucker to finish, Tex slammed her fist down on the button to turn on the communication channel that lit up. “York, you better be a sight for sore eyes or I swear to god I’ll punch you in your fucking afterlife.”

“Oh, thank christ – _Tex!”_ York’s voice came in clearly. “Think you can assist? Downtown has gone to absolute shit.”

“I’ll be right there,” she promised. “Just let me suit up.”


	21. City at War

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We’re so close to the end, so close to throwing things together, and I just can’t thank all of you enough for all the fun I’ve had with this prequel! I’m hoping the answers and reveals will answer some questions and be worth your guys’ wait. And again, thank you just so much for everything!
> 
> Special thanks to @washingtonstub, @analiarvb, @freshzombiewriter, @notatroll7, @a-taller-tale, @ashleystlawrence, @thepheonixqueen, @guigui-bossu, @spooky-circuits, Yin, @secretlystephaniebrown, @ephemeraltea, @astupidusernameme, and staininspace on tumblr and AO3 for the feedback!

After everything that she had been through, just in the past _day’s_ worth of excitement and adventures, Tex thought her costume fit her wrong. 

It was such a dumb sensation, looking at herself in her signature suit – the one designed by Alpha, the one she hand picked the insignia for – and thinking that something she so often wore like a second skin wasn’t _right_  but that was exactly how she felt. Like it was made for a different person.

With an invasion going on and no doubt endless battles to come, Tex pushed the oddly existential feelings far away from herself. There wasn’t _time_ for that ridiculous thought. 

Not when downtown was apparently a disaster that York couldn’t handle himself. 

Like before, traveling invisibly turned out to be the only way to really make it to downtown without delay. She ignored so many monstrous aliens and so many cries for help along that way but she did what she had to. 

They would save more people – save the whole damn _city_ – if they united to take on the real cause of the threat. And she was only going to be able to do that with York and anyone else they pulled together. 

She hoped. 

Tex reached downtown’s shopping square and looked with some degree of panic at the large, alien structure landed there. It managed to be both smaller than the ships in the sky and larger than the closest buildings to it. 

“Real talk,” she muttered to herself, becoming visible. “Where’s the best place to punch it…”

The thought was almost amusing enough to distract her when there was not so subtle hissing behind her. 

Fists up, Tex turned and looked around for an alien to punch, only to see nothing behind her. She raised a brow when suddenly there was something tugging on her pant leg.

“Hey, I’m pretty sure those are registered as lethal weapons, put ‘em down.”

She glanced down to see York’s head and shoulders popping out of the ground, head tilted at her.

Tex felt a wave of relief _and_ annoyance toward her old friend all at once and she lowered to the ground in order to look more levelly at him. “I thought you were dead,” she informed him.

“Yeah, that’s been a common theme. I can see how you’d make the mistake,” York said, sounding far more bitter than Tex had ever heard from him before. 

It was then that Tex really took in his appearance. York was haggard by anyone’s standard, let alone his own. His hair sticking at all ends, bruises and scratches all over his face, and even what little she could see of his uniform was torn and bloodied. 

“What the hell happened out there?” she demanded. 

“I’ll explain in a bit,” York promised, holding out a hand to her. “First, let’s get out of the limelight a bit. We’re no good to anyone if we’re big, brightly colored targets for the invaders.”

“Speak for yourself,” Tex huffed, taking York’s hand all the same. “My costume’s perfect and blending.”

York snorted but otherwise didn’t argue, pulling Tex the rest of the way through the cement and into the passage below the streets. 

It was a bizarre feeling – terrifying, if Tex believed in letting herself get scared at all. Watching the layers of concrete, blacktop, and cement pass through her own eyes as they were lowered into the air pocket of the sewers. 

She didn’t know _how_ York could stand to do it so much. But she supposed he also had more experience.

“I could’ve punched my way down here,” she reminded him once her feet touched the ground, just for good measure.

York gave her a snort and crossed his arms. “Oh, _that_ would have been inconspicuous.”

“I would’ve been _invisible,”_ Tex joked. “Really, though, York, give me the lay of what’s going on here. And I’ll _think_ about sharing what I know.” She frowned. “First off, what the hell happened on your guys’ mission?”

Immediately, York’s expression dropped into a scowl. “ _What_ mission, Tex? There wasn’t a mission, there was a _freaking ambush_ waiting for us at the coordinates the Director gave Carolina. Half the team didn’t even make it back to the Earth’s stratosphere. And we ended up bringing this force,” he motioned toward where the skies would have been if they were above ground, “with us.”

“Gee, _that_ was helpful,” Tex huffed.

“Hey, get judgey all you want, but it’s not like we made things _worse,”_ York informed her. “The moment we touched down and tried to regroup, Carolina took off – no one has any idea _where to_ – and we were swarmed! Dozens, maybe _hundreds,_ of these guys were already waiting for us.” 

Tex took her turn to scowl knowingly. “You don’t say.”

Almost immediately, there was a shift in York. He stepped back and apraised her carefully. “You know something you’re not telling me, Tex?” he asked cautiously. 

“A few things,” she acknowledged. 

“Any of them can tell me just where the hell you’ve been the last few days?” he asked angrily. “I’ve not been able to hail anybody but Wash until now.”

Some relief washed over Tex. “So Wash is on his way?” 

“Yeah,” York continued, curt and cautious. “Do you know about anyone else?”

Lowering her head, Tex shook once. “CT didn’t make it,” she ground out. “Wyoming did and… I don’t know. The whole thing is suspicious, York. I walked in on the scene and she was dead.” 

By the time she looked back up at York, she found an unimpressed fellow Freelancer. 

Tex blinked a few times before raising a brow. “What?”

“What do you mean _what?”_ he asked back. “You supposedly have all this information you’re not keen on sharing with me and now you want me to believe someone I’ve worked with for _years_ killed another one of our teammates? One of our _friends?”_

“Are you saying you don’t trust me?” Tex demanded, voice edging on vicious. 

“I’m saying I trust _all_ the Freelancers until proven otherwise,” York said firmly. His face dropped and he stepped back, glancing down the tunnels. “Fuck. I forgot the rookie’s on his way here.”

Confused herself, Tex came up alongside him. “That’s suddenly a problem?”

York gave her a look that spoke volumes even through his visor. “Of course it is. Our friends are dying and we have to tell Wash that his mentor was killed. Doesn’t that bother you? I thought you two were really tight.”

She could tell what was underlying his tone, the subtle accusation was loud and scathing even if York was trying not to be. 

How could she, a hero, be so heartless in the face of so much death?

“Because I think CT and I knew more about what’s going on here than anyone else,” she finally answered. “I believe that CT died trying to prove it. And the only thing keeping my head on straight is that I have the proof.” She held up the computer drive she had pulled from CT. “And you and I are going to put a stop to this with it. Because that’s what CT would have wanted.”

He looked unsure of himself, staring at the drive intently. For once York didn’t seem to have anything ready to say. But someone else did. 

“Is it _really,_ though?” 

Both Tex and York spun around to face the approaching party in defensive positions. It wasn’t often that someone could sneak up on professional heroes. But the tension soon eased as they saw Wash walk out of the sewer’s shadows. 

York stood upright again and let out a rush of air. “Wash, buddy. Worried me for a sec there,” he said, apparently not taking the curious smile on Wash’s face with the same unease that Tex was feeling. “You must’ve gotten that from CT, all the sneaking about and…” 

Realizing what he was blabbering about, York tensed up slightly again, at least enough to put a hand over his face and shake his head. 

Tex stood upright, but her eyes narrowed in on Wash’s calm expression. 

Over her time in Freelancer, Tex had learned to see Wash in many ways, but _calm_ never really described the former sidekick. 

“What did you mean by that?” Tex asked, promptly ignoring York attempts to insert his foot in his own mouth beside her. “’Is it really though’? What did you mean?”

“What CT would have wanted,” Wash clarified, stopping a few feet short of joining their circle. 

Sensing more of the tension, but still looking more concerned than suspicious toward their teammate, York stepped toward Wash. “About CT… Listen, Wash, you might want to sit down. We’ve got some news about your old partner…”

Before York could get much closer, Tex grabbed his arm and yanked him back toward her. Something that was met with a curt yelp and then a glare as the other hero phased through her hand. 

“What would CT have wanted, Wash?” she asked intently. “After all, you knew her best.”

Wash smirked and held out his hand. “Whatever it is you have? If it was CT then she would have wanted it to go to me. She trained me how to be a detective-like thinker. I know how she would have coded and protected information. In the even that something happened to her, _I’m_ your best bet. So just hand this over to me and let me deal with it.”

At once, York went on edge, stepping back to Tex’s side and giving her a not so subtle look. 

Tex clutched the drive in her hand tighter and glared at Wash.

“How did you know that CT was dead, Wash?” she asked thinly.

Wash remained silent, his hand still outstretched. “You’re not exactly quiet. I overheard.” He waited a beat before straining his hand. “The drive.”

York crossed his arms. “You heard your partner for the last three years was possibly murdered by one of us and the only thing you’re worried about is a stupid paper trail? What the hell is wrong with you?” He then glanced sidelong to Tex. “Both of you. I’m concerned about the motivations for both of you.”

“I need the drive to help you,” Wash pressed darkly. “Hand it over. It’s what CT would have wanted, you fools!”

And in an instant, Tex felt everything come together. Her eyes widened and she pulled the hand with the drive back. “ _Fools?”_ she repeated. 

Realizing what he said, Wash’s face dropped. 

“There’s no need for name calling, my dude,” York said, waggling a finger at Wash for the offense. 

“York, shut up,” Tex snapped. “That’s _not_ Wash!”

York glared at her. “What are you talking about? I think I’d know who is or isn’t Wash–”

Without warning, Wash lunged forward, his kick to York’s chest only missing its mark because the other hero managed to become intangible at the last second. 

It was something Wash quickly recovered from, catching himself on his pivot foot and immediately moving into spinning kick for Tex which she only barely managed to cross block. 

The speed and dexterity might have been Wash’s but the onslaught of the moves and the viciousness behind them rang more falsely. 

As soon as he realized that he was getting nowhere with Tex, the imposter dove for York yet again. A mistake considering York merely became intangible and gave the body hijacker an incredulous look. 

York stared at Tex. “What the hell’s going on?”

Tex glared at the off balanced Washington and threw a punch directly for the back of his head. It was nowhere _near_ her hardest to give, but it was enough to send her friend tumbling toward the floor and out like a light. 

“Another clue,” she finally answered. “I just figured out what else’s probably on this drive. And it’s nothing good.”

She looked up to gauge York’s reaction only to catch the intangible hero reaching through her pocket. Tex’s eyes widened. 

“No! Motherfucker!” she roared uselessly as the suddenly body snatched York gave a lazy smile to her and held up the intangible drive.

“It’s been fun, you ignoramus, but I’ve got an appointment to keep. Worlds to help conquer. Establishments to topple, you know the drill by now, Miss _Hero,”_ York literally _cackled._

“Omega, I’m going to punch your lights out,” she informed him in a snarl. “That’s a _promise.”_

He waved and laughed before walking toward the nearest wall. “Oh, please. You can’t even touch me.”

Tex narrowed her eyes. “The worst part of _that_ is that I can barely tell the difference between York’s usual cockiness.”

Beside her, Wash groaned and began to sit up, body wavering. “Wha… I don’t… understand. Did-did I pass?” he asked incoherently.

She gave him a look over. “Sure, you passed, buddy, whatever you mean.” She then turned toward the wall York’s body was walking through and her mind clicked. “Holy fuck – he has to make eye contact. And right now he’s heading toward his real body. _I can still stop this!”_

Running up to the wall, Tex stopped just short enough to look over the brick. Her scowl set in determination as she drew back her fist.

“Wait, _what?”_ Wash murmured from the water behind her.

Paying no attention to the other rookie, Tex busted through the brick in a solid punch and sent brick and dust spewing around them. She wasted no time before leaping through the hole she had just made and running up to where a surprised York turned to face her. 

“What the hell? Where are we?” York asked, not even noticing the wiry man making an escape. 

“Same old trick, huh, you son of a bitch!?” Tex roared before diving at York. 

“Holy shit!” York cried out in shock, going intangible just in time for Tex to dive through him and tackle the pipsqueak that was Omega’s original body. He then whirled around and watched Tex struggle on the ground before looking put off himself. “Hey! Some _warning_ next time! _Yeesh,”_ he grumped, shaking his head. 

“Oh, shut up and thank me,” Tex snapped before punching Omega’s lights out. She sat on top of the guy and searched his hands, grinning widely as she recovered CT’s drive. “Knew it.”

York squinted at her and cocked his head. “Well, I’m glad _one_ of us does.”

Tex looked at York seriously, closing her hand around the drive. “York, we’re taking the sewers to Blood Gulch,” she explained. 

“Okay. _Why?”_ he demanded.

“Because I trust a guy’s computers to still be usable there,” she said, getting to her feet. “And because we’ll be needing all the help we can get if and when these files prove I’m right.”

York threw up his hands. “Right about _what,_ Tex? I have no idea what’s going on!”

“Right about _Freelancer,”_ she emphasized. “Right about the fact that they’re responsible for everything, and I mean _everything._ This invasion, what happened to you guys in space… And that they’re the ones who have been paying these villains to even be on the streets to begin with.”

He looked at her like she had just taken a nosedive off the deep end, but Tex knew he’d follow. Just like she _knew_ that she’d finally had it all figured out. 

“What about Wash?” he asked, throwing a thumb toward their dazed and muttering cohort as he held his head and kept shaking it. 

“I think he’s seen enough action today,” Tex decided, walking over and bending down beside her fellow rookie. “Come on, Wash,” she grunted as she threw one of his arms around her shoulders. “Let’s find a medical unit to send you off with.” 

York took the hint and quickly moved to get Wash’s other arm. “Are we going to try to get anyone else? What about Dee? The other sidekicks?”

A chill went up Tex’s spine as she remembered the future she had vacationed in recently, and Church and Carolina’s words about the sidekicks of Freelancer. 

“Let’s hold off on that until we’ve looked over the evidence ourselves,” she decided on instead. “Then we’ll figure out who can help… who we can trust.”

Unassured, York nodded. He then forced a smile. “Wait, you’ve not even seen the evidence yet and you trust me? I’m touched.”

“Please,” Tex snorted. “Who’d trust you to keep a secret.”

“Harsh,” he laughed back. He then blinked and looked to Tex worriedly. “Is there anyone else on your shortlist? I mean, I know you and Carolina haven’t exactly gotten along but I vouch for her, Tex.”

Wash’s head hung but he still managed a, “Who?”

Tex stayed quiet before agreeing. “If we see Carolina along the way, we’ll pull her in with us. I… I trust her, too. I think I get her plan.”

That seemed to ease York’s concern and they continued carrying Wash through the sewers. 

If Tex was right, and she was pretty damn sure she was, things were about to get hairy. 


	22. Secret Invasion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We are officially in the final stretch! Just two chapters after this one and I’m officially shaking off the jitters and hoping the climax can be everything we want it to be. And by that, I mean emotionally devastating enough to set up the events of Hero Time properly. Hope everyone’s prepared! We’re ALMOST there!
> 
> Special thanks to @analiarvb, @secretlystephaniebrown, @washingtonstub, @notatroll7, @freshzombiewriter, @a-taller-tale, Yin, and @ashleystlawrence on tumblr and AO3 for the feedback!

Dragging Washington around through the sewer tunnels was not exactly a difficult thing, but it was certainly adding to her growing list of annoyances with the alien invasion the further along they went. And, perhaps more importantly, the longer it meant she wasn’t at Blood Gulch and checking in on her preferred gang of idiots. 

“Come on,” Tex growled, looking down to the phone without service. Her eyes narrowed and she crushed it in her palm before she could catch herself. Once she realized what she was doing, she opened her hand and looked at the shattered device. “Damn it,” she snapped. Then she threw the phone against the tunnel wall. “ _Damn it!”_

 _“Ow,”_ Wash groaned from where she had set him against the wall. His fingers curled tighter in his hair. “Ow. Shit my _head.”_

Unable to contain herself, Tex rolled her eyes at him. “I know. You’ve done nothing but complain about it since you were up and at’em again, Wash.” She knew he wasn’t really paying attention to her or anything else around them, but it gave her _someone_ to interact with while York was off checking on the surface. 

As if on cue, York’s torso stuck out from the tunnel’s ceiling.

Tex walked closer to him and motioned with her hands. “ _Well?_ What’s the news up there, hot shot?” she demanded.

York frowned, dropping through the ceiling entirely and sticking a smooth landing. “Well, I didn’t see any other Freelancer personnel out there. And I couldn’t hail either Carolina _or_ Delta. Which I don’t think is a good thing.”

At even the mention of Carolina, Tex felt her guts twist. But there had to be priorities. “We’ll worry about that later, York. _Hospitals_ , _medical stations –_ did you find anywhere safe to drop off Loopy McSadsack here?” she asked with a jerk of her thumb toward Washington. “We’ve got to start getting some answers and they’re just not going to happen with Wash around.” She paused before crossing her arms and shrugging. “And I guess it’s not safe for him either or whatever.”

York tilted his head to the side and looked at her expectantly. “Wow. Where’d you learn your bedside manner from? A salt water crocodile?”

“Where can we put Wash, York?” she demanded. “We’re walking targets as long as I’ve got the proof that Freelancer is rotten and responsible for all this bullshit, and the longer Wash is with us the more he’s not only a liability to us, but a target for them, too.”

At that, Wash raised his head just enough to squint at her. “Freelancer… _responsible?”_ he asked. 

“ _If_ that’s what’s on the drive,” York corrected, giving Tex a warning look. “We don’t know what’s going on yet, and like it or not the other Freelancers are still our friends _until_ we learn otherwise. Got it?”

“No,” Tex answered. “Because that’s stupid. Everyone’s a suspect until they’re cleared.” 

Groaning, York threw his head back. “Oh my _god._ I always _heard_ that raging paranoia was a side effect of too much time spent with CT but I never _believed_ it until now.”

Before Tex could snap back, there was a splash that had both her and York looking to Wash as he stepped forward wobbly. 

“CT,” he said tiredly. “Have you looked for her yet?”

Swallowing, Tex glanced toward York who shared her same regretful expression before he stepped forward and slung Wash’s arm over his shoulder. “You just worry about yourself for right now, buddy.” He then looked to Tex. “I saw a hospital a block over. It was in lockdown but they had moved patients and staff to the basement floors. Generator up and everything. I can take Wash there and meet you at this _safe place_ you’ve got in Blood Gulch if you send me the address.”

Tex scowled. “Did you not hear what I said about not trusting anyone yet?” she asked. 

“Oh, get over yourself,” York said with a shake of his head. “Send it to my HUD when you can. I’m going to get our friend here to some help.”

“Fine,” Tex said, holding up a finger in warning. “Don’t make me wait too long, York. I’m not known for my patience.”

York snorted and started toward the walls. “You don’t say. What a revelation!”

Annoyed, Tex crossed her arms and watched until both men were through the wall and out of sight. She then glanced over to the mess she had made of her phone and groaned, pinching the bridge of her nose. 

“Smooth move, Tex. Now you’ll just have to talk to them face to face,” she sighed before starting into a run. “Better hope Church can keep the sarcasm cranked down to a seven.”

It most likely spoke a lot toward Tex’s pre-Freelancer adventures that the moment her travels through the city’s sewer system took her to the grounds beneath Blood Gulch, an air of familiarity swept over her. She probably _shouldn’t_ have been as familiar with the foul smelling depths of her former neighborhood, but there she was, comforted by the undergrounds once haunted by Crunchbite. 

Rounding the corners and entering the maze closer to the gym, Tex considered popping out and checking things out, just long enough to see how her home was. 

There wasn’t a hell of a lot of time, she knew that. Every moment wasted was one that they lost more of the city to the invading threat. But Tex knew she was never the most _reasonable_ of heroes, and soon enough found herself climbing the nearest manhole ladder and checking on the gym her grandfather had once sponsored. 

Her heart clenched tightly in her chest as she barely managed to budge the manhole cover. 

“Come on,” she growled before punching it enough to send the cover _and_ the debris on top of it flying into the air. 

A gush of dust and soot fell down over her head almost immediately, forcing Tex to cough and hack as she clutched the manhole’s ladder rungs. She waved the dust away and pressed up, pushing her head and shoulders out to look and see what her gut had already assumed.

Looking at the rubble where the historic gym once stood turned something cold and hurtful in Tex’s stomach and she sagged against the edges of the manhole in breathless wonder. 

It was just a gym. It didn’t mean anything. Just like the streets she had walked every step of, knew every alley turn to, didn’t mean anything. 

They didn’t. 

She climbed out the rest of the way and stood by the mess of brick and pipes, bending over and scooping up an old, scuffed up red brick that once made the outside of her family gym. 

While she stared, honks and blarghs grew in volume nearby. They forced Tex’s stinging gaze to turn from the ruins to the approaching aliens. 

Blinding rage overtook Tex and without really thinking about the fact that she was _vastly_ outnumbered or that they were holding guns that looked like they came straight out of a Liefeld drawing, she threw that brick with all her might at the nearest alien’s head.

The _THWACK_ was so resounding when it hit the alien right between the eyes, the other aliens stopped and looked all together before the comrade fell with a pathetic _blargh._

Tex counted the twelve aliens all looking at their collapsed friend and rethought her strategy, however slightly, and activated her invisibility, backing up warily as the aliens began to one by one get on guard. 

There wasn’t much she was going to be able to do there. And the gym was undoubtedly gone. So she instead took off as fast as she could through those familiar back alleys to make it instead to Church and Tucker’s apartment. 

Somewhat despite herself, Tex took the time during her frantic run to send the address to York. 

She might not have been able to afford trust, but she could afford being alone during whatever the next phase of this thing was even _less._ And like it or not York was about the only one to turn to.

It was a blur between reaching the apartment and climbing the familiar stairs to her friends’ apartment, but once she was there she slammed into the door, knocking fiercely enough to dent the door beneath her fist. But no one made a noise inside.

“Hey! Assholes!” she yelled. “Open the door or I swear to god I’ll make you regret it.” Tex took a beat to breathe before leaning her forehead against the obstruction. “Uh. It’s me. Tex.”

Lacking her usual confidence about everything turning out just how she needed it to, Tex worried her lip. And still no one came to the door.

Frustrated, Tex growled before kicking the door in with the heel of her boot. It smacked the ground behind it with a boom, leaving Tex to stand in the doorway of an empty apartment with all the lights out. 

Not knowing what to do with the unexpected results, Tex ran a hand through her hair and ground her teeth. 

Where was Tucker? Where was that bruiser they found? _Where was Church?_

The moment Church came to mind, Tex’s gaze honed in on his bedroom door. There was still a mechanical hum and the soft glow through its cracks that told her that Alpha’s equipment was up and running even during an invasion. Her hunch was right, even if it hadn’t been what she was _really_ looking for in the apartment.

Ignoring the mounting fear in the back of her mind, Tex strode over to Church’s room and easily opened the door. 

Everything was exactly where it had been in their last video call, though it was far from comforting. 

Tex took a moment to catalogue her surroundings before continuing the rest of the way toward Church’s computer. It had been a while since she had been there in person, but the distinct smell of corn chips and the feel of cold machinery were as solidified in her memory as ever.

She dropped into the computer seat and peered at the computer carefully before reaching over and logging in, same as old. 

Considering the sensitive information available through his equipment, Church must have been pretty damn sentimental to leave all the information same as it had been when they were officially dating. 

“Sentimental or _lazy,”_ she reminded herself with an eye roll. 

Looking around, Tex saw a data port and quickly produced the drive she then stuck in. She watched the screen light up as download began successfully, and some of the pressure that had been building on her chest throughout the day finally began to relieve itself just a touch.

“Well, shit, why didn’t you just _say_ it was Alpha’s place. Would’ve been a lot easier.”

Leaping to her feet fast enough to send the computer chair flying behind her, Tex turned toward the voice with her fists up only to see York standing halfway through the closed window with his hands up apologetically. 

“You are _so_ jumpy,” he noted.

“How did you get here so quick?” she fired back.

“You ever just run through everything to get somewhere quick?” York asked before snorting and shaking his head. “No, of course you haven’t. Dumb question. Sorry about that. What I mean is, you know how the shortest distance between two places is a straight line? I accepted that challenge.” 

Tex gave him a testing look and then reached over to pick up the turned over computer chair. “Get the rest of the way in here before you find a way to annoy me even more.”

"Was that a challenge?” York asked, coming in the rest of the way to Church’s room all the same. He then glanced around the decor, head tilting back slightly. “Wow, Leonard. I know that people like to say never change, but _holy shit_ this is exactly like your dorm room.”

Tex felt a disgusting taste come over her tongue. “Oh, _god_ do you actually call him Leonard?” 

“Only behind his back. I have this ongoing theory that people’s ears burning amplifies when you use the part of their name they hate the most,” York explained. “It’s all very scientific. I won’t bore you with it.” 

When York finally came to a stop behind Tex, she realized he was holding some of Church’s favorite figurines and carelessly tossing them in the air to juggle. Tex turned and glared in aggravation. 

“Would you stop and read these files with me?” she asked, feeling more protective over those toys than she had the entirety of her gym. 

York smiled and stopped only momentarily before continuing. “Are you annoyed?”

“I hate you,” Tex snapped, turning to the computers and watching as CT’s research unfolded before them more and more. Her eyes widened. “York, _seriously,_ get over here and look at this.”

Tossing the toys to the bed, York leaned over Tex’s shoulder and began scanning through the former detective’s notes alongside her.

It was everything. Absolutely _everything._

The funding Freelancer received from various governments, shadowy entities, and licensing agreements. There was a science division – _multiple_ that Tex had never even heard of. Cloning research. Ten year plans involving the academy and its graduates. Profiles on each and every one of the Freelancers, their commercial appeal, and the expendability of each. 

As the information continued pouring onto the screen, an uneasy silence fell between them. There was more than could be fully understood in just their single sitting and the tension was growing as quickly as the list of grievances with Freelancer.

Finally, York tore himself away from the screen. 

“We need to regroup,” York said. “We’ll keep this information safe somehow, but right now we have to regroup with whoever we can find–”

“Who, York?” Tex asked thinly. “Everyone’s gone.”

“Not everyone, I refuse to believe that,” York snapped back. “But it doesn’t matter. If there’s twenty of us or just the two of us, Tex, we _have_ to take on these aliens and stop any further harm–”

Tex turned in her seat and looked at York completely aghast. “ _Aliens?_ You’re worried about the aliens? Do you not see what this information is spelling out? What Freelancer did? How they’re at _fault_ for bringing this here?”

“Right now it’s not the priority,” York countered.

“The hell it isn’t!” Tex spat. “Church – _Alpha_ – kept telling us that something was wrong with Freelancer. That something had changed his mind about being a superhero and whatever it was that he refused to share with us is going to make the difference here. He’s still not home, and that means something or _someone_ is keeping him from here. We find him, we find out what he knows.”

York threw up his arms. “That won’t mean _shit_ if the city’s destroyed and everyone’s dead, Tex!? Who will try the motherfuckers for their crimes? Who’ll make them pay if we don’t save the city!?”

“I will!” she snapped. 

They stared off at each other for a moment before York let out a long huff of air. “Tex,” he said lowly. “You’re still new at being an official hero, alright? So let me explain this to you as _calmly_ as I can manage right now: your vendetta? Your personal vengeance? You put that aside right now because being a goddamn _hero_ is not about recognition, it’s _not_ about being famous or getting money, and it _sure as hell_ is not about proving a point!” 

Tex didn’t so much as flinch at the accusation, still remaining icily vigilant of her colleague.

“We need to save people,” York continued. “Because they’re counting on us.”

“Church is counting on me,” Tex said darkly. “I’m the only person he’s ever counted on, and I won’t let him down.”

York’s scowl deepened. “No offense, but Church for as long as I’ve known him has only _ever_ counted on himself.”

The punch wasn’t hard, but it was enough to put a surprised York on the ground. 

“We need more heroes to stop the invasion?” Tex asked coolly. “Then I’m going to round up Church. Just for that.”

York rubbed roughly at his cheek. “Ow.”

“Oh, and by the way,” Tex smirked. “Gotcha.”

“It doesn’t count if I didn’t see it coming,” he snapped, pushing off the floor. “But… yeah. You’re right. We both need to gather anyone who can help and in the next hour meet back at Freelancer base.”

Tex took her turn to scowl. “Why Freelancer base?”

He held up a finger, “One, because it’s where this mess got started and I’d be willing to bet it has more than a few things that we can use to put an end to all of this.” York then held up his second finger. “Two, if we take control of the base while everything else has gone to shit, that means we can _keep_ control of it. That means stopping the bastards in charge from changing the facility any and getting rid of evidence. _Aaaand_ three, anyone who we don’t find for ourselves can meet us up there. Not everyone knows that Freelancer is rotten, if you and I are anybody to go by.”

Smirking, Tex crossed her arms. “That’s a thought out plan, York. Color me impressed.”

With a shrug, York eased back into his usual smarmy demeanor. “What can I say? I’m an impressive specimen.” 

They stood for a moment, something akin to solidarity between their looks to each other. 

Then York held out his hand, Tex grabbed it confidently and they held the shake tightly. 

“Be careful out there,” York warned. “You might not be _seen_ all the time, but it doesn’t mean the bullets or lasers or _whatever_ can’t find you.”

“ _You_ be careful out there,” Tex snarked back. “Who exactly are you looking for anyway?” 

“Delta, for sure,” York said before tapping on his temple. “Though, knowing Dee, he’ll be guiding me half the way to him anyway. Other than that I’m looking for any of the others. Sidekicks, friends…” he paused for a moment before hardening his look. “When we first landed, Carolina was among us survivors. She was fine. Healthy even. But she took off without warning and even before we lost contact with each other, no one had heard or seen her.” 

That familiar ache returned, that guilt of an unwinable promise she made. “I saw her,” Tex said. “Since then. I saw her.”

York’s attention was firmly grasped and he looked at her. “Is she okay?”

“I don’t know,” Tex said truthfully. “She was… It’s hard to explain. She came and got me. Then we were taken somewhere and… we had each other’s hands and then she was gone. In an instant. I don’t know how to explain it. But I think it might be a mystery for another time.”

A grimace took control of York’s face where hope had once been. “I’ll try not to give my hopes up then.”

Tex forced a smirk. “No you won’t. You’re all about counting on us hopeless types.”

“Hey, I’m not the one who dated _Leonard Church,”_ York joked as he began to sink through the apartment floor. “Good luck to you, Tex. See you in an hour.”

“Same to you,” Tex said, heading for the window. “And remember, York, if you don’t show up in an hour, I’ll kill ya, alright?”

“Consider me intimidated,” he laughed.

Tex took a breath and jumped down into the city below. 

She had to find Church.


	23. If This Be My Destiny

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I’ve known for a while we’d be getting to this chapter and it was going to be heeeaaaavvvvyyyy but I was so happy to write it anyway because I’m just so grateful for all of you guys and I just am so excited to finally get this chapter out to those of you who have supported me for so long throughout this fic. Thank you guys so so very much. And I hope you get as emotionally gut busted as I got writing the dang thing. … in the most loving, best way possible of course. 
> 
> Special thanks to @secretlystephaniebrown, @freshzombiewriter, @analiarvb, @washingtonstub, @notatroll7, NidgetMinja, Yin, @ephemeraltea, @spooky-circuits, and @a-taller-tale on tumblr and AO3 for the feedback!

It made no sense that Tucker and Church weren’t already back at their apartment. 

The further Tex got into the city, the more she walked away from the direct focus of the Freelancer plot, the alien invasion, and the questions of surviving Freelancers, the more she was able to think upon the little things. The little things and the _really big things_ that shined like neon signs in front of her.

Church and Tucker not being in their apartment, safe and sound, ready to annoy, made _no sense_ in any scenario she could think of unless something went _drastically_ wrong.

Which, of course, she would have almost betted money on since these things were involving Church and Tucker. 

Drastically wrong basically went hand-in-hand with at least one if not _both_ of them at any one time. 

By the time she was sweeping the third street, her senses were on full alert. 

And it wasn’t just because a guy on a bicycle racing toward her had a hoodie that was on fire. Though, that probably wouldn’t have hurt matters. 

“They! Are! Going! To! Kidnap! Me!” the guy shouted at the top of his lungs as he peddled straight for Tex. 

His watery cries were more than enough to unsettle Tex, but her real concern came from the fact that there were three alien bruisers chasing him down on foot. Unlike the ones she had encountered before, though, Tex noticed that they weren’t wearing protective armors, but rather very baggy looking clothes.

“Just like Crunchbite,” she marveled before glancing down to the pocket of her jacket with CT’s drive. “But that means… The aliens _aren’t_ the ones kidnapping people! It’s the Freelancer copies!” 

The screaming from the civilian biker picked up enough that without even looking, Tex could tell that he was about to bass her. She held up her arm and without any effort at all clotheslined him and dropped him to the pavement with her where she could pat out the flames. 

“Ow! _Ow!_ Superhero bru-u-u-tality! I happen to like these clothes!” the civilian cried out, flinching away even in spite of the fact that Tex was saving his life and what was left of his hoodie.

“Yeah, well, pink with a hint of singe is still better than pink and a hint of _dead_ , so shut up and thank me later,” Tex told him before getting to her feet and readied to lunge for the oncoming monsters. 

The civilian sat up, skin visibly burned though it didn’t stop him from glaring directly at Tex. “Hey! Who’s wearing _pink?_ This is _obviously_ light-ish _red!_ Duh!”

Tex only bothered to side eye the civilian for a moment before the aliens began making chortling noises and aimed their weapons right at her. They were the same huge, glowing weapons Tex had taken note of before only now they had their sights directly focused on her. 

Her grin etched onto her face as she waved them forward. “Bring it on, assholes.”

With an aggravated _Blargh,_ the two alien wannabes began firing upon Tex and the suddenly shrieking civilian. The weapons were some sort of high-energy laser blasts that even without knowing anything about them, Tex pretty easily guessed she didn’t want to be on the receiving end of. 

Grabbing the civilian again, Tex raced out of the laser fire and managed to jump over a nearby parked car for cover. 

The shrill screaming from the civilian died down only to start up in her ear yet again as she tried to turn around and face the monstrous threat. It was enough to nearly make her jump out of her suit. 

“What!?” she demanded, looking over her shoulder to him. 

“Oh, my _gosh._ Who designed this outfit for you? The texture is _so_ uncomfortable on bare skin!” he cried out. “How does your body even _breathe_ in that thing!? Tell you what, when I get around to winning on _Superhero Runway_ someday, the first thing I’m going to do is make a modal fabric weave. With some color! Like this light-ish red I’ve got on right now–”

Caught off guard, Tex turned in her crouch completely to look at the man in complete wonder. “Wait! You’re a designer for _Superhero Runway!?_ What the fuck, did I _miss_ a season while I was signed up with Freelancer? What the _hell?”_

“Oh, definitely!” he nodded. “I just… haven’t made it past the auditions part first. I designed this hoodie! See – it’s singed but it didn’t get destroyed in the fire!” 

Tex squinted at him. “But your skin still got burned.”

“But the fabric feels _amazing,”_ he assured her. 

“That’s stupid as hell,” she informed him just before there was the sound of one of the monster’s guns charging up then unleashing a larger blast than those which had been used against Tex and the civilian before. 

Once the blast hit the car they were using as cover, blue energy pulsed through the car and around them. It was too loud for Tex to even hear her own gritting teeth as the winds threatened to push herself and the car forward. 

As it ended, electricity sparked from the vehicle before fettering out and causing the car to sag on popped tires. 

Turning back around, Tex looked the synthetic aliens’ way with wide eyes. “What the fuck was _that!?”_

“They must’ve figured out you’re a superhero!” the civilian informed her. “They’ve got these weapons they’ve been using since the Freelancers got back – some kind of ray gun that zaps energy or powers or something! I don’t remember. I only heard it on the radio!”

“What could Freelancer want with a weapon like that?” Tex asked out loud. She then glared at the civilian. “Why are you screaming every word?”

“What!?” he shouted. “I’m sorry! My ears are popping! That’s like the second time I got hit with one of those things! It’s not a whole lot of fun! Wait! Is it time to start screaming!?

"No,” she said aggressively.

“Oh! Okay!” the man responded before beginning to release a high pitched shrill the likes of which Tex hadn’t realized were even _possible_ coming from human lungs. 

It apparently was shocking to the invaders as well since Tex looked over the car’s hood in time to see both of the monsters looking at each other and letting out surprised honks and _blarghs._ They were trying to figure out just _what_ was going on over on the other side of the car and that was just enough distraction for Tex to move into action. 

Without missing a beat, the superhero leaped over the car with all her might and landed between the two attackers. They were large and scaly, and might have been intimidating in full scale if Tex hadn’t wasted so much of her life on fighting Crunchbite already. 

And while a begrudging affection had come to exist between Tex and her ever growing number of comically inept adversaries, these particular monsters benefited from no such softness. 

She grabbed the monsters by their jaws and sent them flying together, head to head, and delivered a devastating sounding crack of their skulls hitting against one another. 

With defeated _blarghs,_ both collapsed to the pavement, leaving Tex momentarily victorious and with a new handy weapon. 

Tex lowered onto her haunches and looked the weapon over. Her heart was racing – just what could a gun like that – something that could remove someone’s powers – do to a person head on? Was it _just_ for powers, or could something more lethal be produced?

They were answers that only a few people could give her. 

Finally getting up, the gun slung over her shoulder, Tex walked over to the not-pink hoodied civilian. At the very least, he had given up on the screaming. So there was _that._

"Oh wow! You really saved me!” he screamed out excitedly.

Tex flinched back and rubbed the ear nearest to the civilian. “Yeah, I’m wonderful. I know. Give me your cellphone,” she ordered. 

He blinked widely at her. “My what?”

“ _Cellphone!_ Give me your goddamn cellphone!” she shouted at the top of her lungs. “Then get your scrawny ass to somewhere safe while we superheroes save the city. Again.”

Taking his turn to flinch, the would-be runway designer fished in his pocket for the phone in question then offered it over to Tex, a worried line working its way to his brow. “Alright, alright. But! I was really hoping to get a callback from the show on that phone. So could you just–”

“Scram!” she snapped at him, sending the kid scampering away for cover. Tex rolled her eyes and then turned to the phone. From memory alone, she dialed up Church’s cellphone number and then held it to her ear. “C’mon, c’mon – _pick up,_ damn you!”

While Tex made it a practice to never go back on her stubbornness, she couldn’t help but wonder if actually getting a phone for herself like her friends had always bothered her about would have been any help at all. At least until ring tone ended and Tex was met with some static of being in use. 

Her entire face lit up and she yelled excitedly into the phone. “Church! Where the fuck are you!?”

There was a momentary pause with some heavy breathing that made Tex’s stomach churn uncomfortably. “Church?” she asked hesitantly.

“Yes, hello? I am not Church. But he _is_ my best friend!”

It took a moment for Tex to place the voice before she remembered the big hulking superpowered replacement Church had started palling around with during her absences and, suddenly, relief came over her. Church was going to be fine as long as there was _someone_ who could punch things reliably around him. She was sure of it.

"Listen, it’s Caboose, right?” she asked, already getting on the move.

“No. I go by _just_ Caboose,” he corrected her.

“Are you with Church?” she tried instead. 

“Yes! I am with Church! We are rescuing Tucker! Just like real heroes! But I’m not allowed to say that. They said if I use that word I’m breaking the law. I do not want to be a law breaker,” the man said, sounding very troubled.

Tex couldn’t resist rolling her eyes. “Well, you picked excellent company for that. Church can’t figure out how to correctly do something illegal when his life depends on it.”

“He is a very good man,” Caboose sniffed proudly into the phone.

“I’m sure as much as Church loves to hear that he’s a failure at being a villain, I need you to do something for me, Caboose, alright?” she asked, jumping over some debris as she rerouted herself for Freelancer base. 

“I don’t really know you so well…” Caboose said with a hum.

“It’s for _Church,_ too,” she clarified.

“I would love to help Church! It’s even my job now! He says I’m a henchman! Which is like being a sidekick, but it is not to a superhero. Hm. I wonder what Church is if he is not a superhero…”

“Caboose, concentrate!” she ordered. “Have you seen those big guns that the aliens have?” 

“I have one of the big guns the aliens have!” Caboose shouted excitedly. 

The information was almost too good to be true. Tex looked at the phone for a moment before holding it back to her head. “You _do?”_ she asked in shock.

“Yeah! It was too big for Church to carry, and since we can’t get Tucker to wake up _he_ couldn’t carry it. So I’ve got it now instead!” Caboose explained cheerfully. “Is this gun going to help Church!? Does this mean _I_ get to help Church!? This is the best call I have ever had in my life!”

"You have to give the gun _to_ Church so he can look at it and get back to me about what he thinks it is,” Tex continued. 

“Okay, but Church is supposed to already be dating someone, phone lady. She gets really angry, Church says. So maybe he won’t be able to call you back…”

Tex narrowed her eyes. “Caboose, tell him this _is_ the _someone_ and I will be _extremely_ pissed if he _doesn’t_ call me back.”

Before the conversation could loop around again, there was muffled yelling and confusion before the phone cleared back up and a more familiar, breathless voice called out from the other side of the phone instead. “Tex!? Is that you!?”

“Of course it’s me!” Tex snapped. “I was out looking for you, then got told that these alien _things_ have some kind of super-based weapon that stops people’s powers.”

“Yeah, assholes came _prepared_ ,” Church replied in that irritatingly nonchalant way of his. “But enough about that, where are _you!?_ Where have you _been?_ I’ve been looking for you forever and then Tucker – when he was awake for a bit – said you told him to go looking for you and–”

Tex closed in on the premises of Freelancer’s base and took note almost immediately of how much denser the monsters and aliens seemed to be in number. _And_ that the armored aliens – the _real_ ones – were attacking and unhappy with the more plain ones that Tex had ran into over and over again. 

Something was wrong – something had _changed_ since she had last been near the building. And she was willing to bet it wasn’t simply that York had beat her to it. 

Going invisible, Tex held the phone closer and talked in more hushed tones. “No, Church, _not_ enough about that! I don’t know if you failed to notice this, but the whole goddamn city is under attack and we need some answers about that weapon. Because being _that_ specifically prepared for _superheroes_ doesn’t seem like a very alien-minded sense of attack. Seems more like something someone on _our_ level would anticipate needing.”

Church paused for a moment before letting out a low hum. “Why, that would be rather diabolical,” he said mischievously. “Are you insinuating that _I_ could come up with something so devious?”

Tex let out a bark of laughter. “As if. You’re seething with jealousy that someone _else_ came up with it first because it proves that you don’t have a head for villainy,” she said back.

“Hey! Take that back! You don’t know that!”

“I know that the Church _I’m_ dating is too smart to let a weapon he knows has that sort of capabilities be handled by anyone but himself,” Tex pointed out as she neared the Freelancer base entrance she had used before. The door was still broken in and she quietly progressed into the building.

“Oh shit – Caboose! Give me that thing–”

Tex paused long enough to take a breath. “Church,” she said lowly.

“What?” he snapped in return. 

“How’s Tucker?” she asked first. “I’m the one who told him to go out there when he didn’t want to. Don’t tell me he’s… Just tell me he’s alright.”

“He’s complaining and whiny and _now_ he’s unconscious. So it’s basically like any other night Tucker comes home unlucky from a first date,” Church responded dryly. 

“Okay, if things are safe where you are,” Tex continued, “I need you to do me a favor and use your powers to infiltrate all the Freelancer networks. I need you in control here, okay? I need you to see me deliver the punch I’ve been holding off for you for a _long_ time, okay?” 

There was a pause before, excitedly, Church asked, “Oh my god, you’re actually doing it!? You think he’s the one who built the weapons!? He’s– Oh fuck. _He’s_ responsible for all of this? What a fucking dickhead! Forget punching, why not stomp his face in!?”

"Just do what I said, Church, for fuck’s sake. This is about as theatrical as I get on my own!” she ordered before the phone hung up on Church’s end. She rolled her eyes and moved forward through the base.

She wasn’t entirely sure which direction to go either until she heard a quiet draw in her own mind.

_Texas. The debriefing room._

The phrase echoed in her brain and was such a shock that she nearly knocked off her feet. Her eyes shot open and she looked around unsure. It only took a moment more for her to fully realize what must have happened however and she turned toward the debriefing room. 

Her eyes narrowed. “Okay, so that must be Delta, and _that_ must mean York. So I guess there was some success on his front after all.”

Without wasting anymore time, Tex flung the door open to the debriefing room and was met face to face with York who was standing in the room with his hands over his head. He looked genuinely surprised at her. 

“Uh. Gee. Nothing there. Wonder what could’ve knocked that door open,” he said loudly before Tex could utter a word. “Rats. Computer malfunctions. Strong breeze–”

“Invisible women.”

Tex hesitated. She had never heard that voice before but it was more than enough to send a chill down her spine. She glanced around York to see a tall, slender man in black with one of the power weapons pointed at York’s back. 

Beside him, Delta’s head was lowered. 

York let out a long sigh and hung his head as well. “Dammit, Dee.”

“A judgement call had to be made,” the sidekick said. “I am most sorry, Texas. But my partner’s life was in jeopardy.”

The dark man tilted his head back, bright green eyes shining behind his glasses in a way that put Tex in mind of the dark future she had seen with Carolina just hours before – even if it was beginning to feel like ancient history or a dream. 

"I don’t believe your invisibility is necessary anymore, Texas,” the man said with an eerie calm to it all. “I am confident in your location.”

Tex dropped her invisibility and stared straight into the man’s eyes, her own scowl set firmly to her face. “So,” she said lowly, “You’re him. You’re the guy in charge, huh?” 

“That is correct,” he replied simply. “I am the Director of Team Freelancer, Leonard Church.” He cocked his head to the side. “I wish we could have met far sooner, but I try my best to not keep a public face. And given your choice in company, I assumed that there was a good chance you would take that enhanced strength of yours and use it against me for some petty child’s sense of revenge.”

“To be honest, if I’d met you _before_ it would’ve been just that,” Tex replied. “But now that we’ve met in person and I have the full scope of what a prick you are, I’m going to punch you for _me,_ too.”

“This is why you failed all your classes on hostage negotiation,” York sighed.

“You think of me as an enemy, Texas,” the Director said, as if it were something novel. “But you aren’t even aware of my purposes for everything.”

“I have to be _aware_ of why you’re a bastard before I can declare you a bastard? Since _when?”_ Tex mocked. 

“You aren’t the least bit curious why my own son – someone you seem to have placed a lot of faith in during all this time – can’t even trust you with information about _me?”_ he asked. 

Her frown tugging in the corners, Tex let out a breath. “And here I was hoping the name thing was just for irony’s sake.”

“Arms are getting tired,” York mumbled. 

“Stay where you are, New York. You are far more expendable today that you have been in the past, I’m afraid,” the Director warned. 

Tex’s nose curled and she prepared to deliver a snarl directed at their captor when she noticed a certain shine to Delta’s visor. She hadn’t had much experience with the kid, but York trusted him, and even though she didn’t like being led into a trap, his next message seemed promising.

_Keep him talking._

“Okay,” Tex said. “Okay! Look, _fine!_ There’s no need for that.” By the time the Director was looking back her way, Tex was raising her unclenched hands into the air over her head. “You’re the Director. You had the whole of Freelancer – the city – the _whole damn world_  in your hands.” She shrugged as much as she could without seeming threatening. “What’s the point of this plan? What’s the point of destroying everything if you already won it all?”

The Director tilted his head, somewhat looking surprised. “ _Won it all,_ Texas? I suppose my Alpha truly trusted you with nothing. These things were not prizes I won, but rather they were an empire I _built.”_

She squinted at him. “I find that hard to believe.”

“Do you?” he asked lowly. “Texas, the people of this world did not _want_ superheroes. They did not care for having gods walking among them. It threatened establishment, it threatened power. Super powered beings who were not viewed only through the lens of a _superhero_ were automatically assumed villainous. That their every accomplishment with or without their innate abilities considered _fraudulent._ Can you even imagine, being outcast simply because you were born _greater_ than others?”

The words hit a core deep within Tex. She focused on the Director, on how much she _hated_ letting him talk rather than going ahead and punching him in the mouth, but there was a hurtful truth to what he had to say. 

Memories of her father, of the gym led to ruin far before the Invasion had flattened it, kept beating into her head where she didn’t have time for them.

“Kind of,” she answered lowly. 

There was a twisted smile on the Director’s lips. “I had believed that you would.”

Tex ground her teeth together. “You know, I’m getting _pretty fucking tired_ of Churches making assumptions about me.”

“An oversight I won’t attempt to make again,” the Director said with no earnestness to his voice. Tex doubted he had enough in him to fake it should he have wanted to. “However, it is a common experience among those who have great power at their disposal. At least, it was until nearly thirty years ago when something changed. Something _marvelous_ changed in the favor of those with powers.”

“And that was?” Tex asked despite herself.

“They were _needed_ ,” the Director stressed. “Villains, monsters, aliens – the whole like. _Extraordinary_ threats which required damn near _extraordinary_ measures to stop them. Could militaries? Governments? Surely, yes. But the cost and the management on such daily scales required those with _extraordinary ability_ to rise to the occasion. If only should a consistent threat exist for them to overcome.”

York’s jaw tightened closed and Tex took a breath. 

The silence was truly deafening as the Director’s words sunk in, at least it was until the footsteps behind Tex confirmed what she had figured – two people stepped in behind her. 

She glanced just enough – Wyoming and the pipsqueak who was the original Omega host body. 

“And how else can someone assure there will be a consistent threat… if they aren’t willing to make some of their own. Eh, Director?” she said looking back to him. 

He did not seem impressed with her late realization, and really Tex couldn’t blame him there. “Super humans are the next step in improving humanity from the real threats Freelancer’s _simulations_ are based on. As this _true_ invasion intermixed with my creations’ own cleaning house has truly taught us, Texas. And it is out of a love for humanity that I wish for as many of the extraordinary to survive as possible.” His frown grew. “Though I am not above seeing the _necessity_ of sacrifice for that cause.”

Tex couldn’t help it. She laughed. 

“Is that what all this has been? The monster making, the space missions that seemingly have nothing to do with the city, these super powered villains in the city? They’re just… toys, constantly proving to civilians at the cost of lives and money that there is a need for a superhero team at all times?” she asked. “No wonder Church never made a good villain. Would’ve looked bad on your _brand_ if you shined the spotlight on him.”

"You make light of a genuine predicament,” the Director replied.

Behind the Director was a subtle blue spark from the monitors of the room. Subtle but Tex saw it immediately. 

She wasn’t alone on this anymore. 

“You truly are something to behold, Texas,” he continued, oblivious to the shift in her favor. “Two incongruent abilities. Massive opportunities for application in and out of the field. And a lineage of powers, meaning a high probability of you passing your genes on. It would be a boon to the world that will survive the ashes of this civilization if you were to join us.”

For a moment, Tex made for it to seem like she was considering the option before shrugging her shoulders. “Nah,” she answered confidently. “I prefer to _not_ side with the kinds of people who annoy me. And you, sir, _really_ annoy me. I don’t think I’ve got what it takes to be a Freelancer. Just like someone else I know.”

The Director barely had time to react before the computers around the room and in the desk screens began exploding around him. 

The man fired toward Tex and York but not before Tex dove and threw herself and York to the floor, leaving Omega’s body to get caught in the fire and let out a scream. Wyoming looked as though he were reaching to his hand when suddenly he let out a cry and grabbed at his head instead. 

Tex was surprised at first before glancing over just in time to see Delta pointing his hands at the older Freelancer and gritting his teeth. 

She then pulled York with her to hide behind one of the desks for cover and grinned. “Quite a sidekick there. That the reason they gave him to you? So he could get practice at saving _your_ skin?”

“Don’t be jealous just because my sidekick is amazing,” York cautioned. “I mean… I like him and all, but we _did_ just learn our entire relationship was a manipulation to further a madman’s agenda.”

“Pretty difficult to get over that,” Tex agreed.

“Probably will need therapy,” York sighed. 

“ _Alpha!”_ the Director roared, nearing the closest computer. “Must you ruin _everything_ you touch? After all I have done for you? After all I _gave_ you?”

All of the screens turned Alpha’s signature blue, giving the room an electric glow. 

“You know what, Dad?” Alpha spat out venomously. “Fuck _you._ And another thing–” There was an uncharacteristic pause and some grunting. Then a long string of curses. “Caboose! _Stop!_ I need my computer! Go check on Tucker– Wait, wait! Don’t throw the gun down–”

Tex listened in confusion before the horror seeped in. She got to her feet. 

All of the monitors and devices of the room which had already been detonating and frying continued to do so, but the screens no longer glowed blue. The speakers were no longer filled with Alpha’s canned voice. 

Her mouth felt try and she couldn’t catch her breath.

“Church?” she managed to sputter out. 

The Director was also staring, only feet away from Tex when he suddenly moved, waving the power gun around firing before Tex could even think. Her ears rang from the blast but she didn’t feel the kickback, didn’t feel her powers be drained from her body. 

It wasn’t until she realized Delta was screaming that the full ramifications caught up with her. 

She turned just enough to see what she already knew had happened, and it somehow managed to be worse than she had imagined. 

York coughed and heaved, his body only having moved halfway through one of the desks before he was blasted with the depowerment. He had been sneaking around them, while Tex was stupidly distracted, York was on point, finishing the job. 

And he was halfway through a desk with no way out. 

“I warned you about moving, New York,” the Director said coldly.

Then she snapped.

Tex couldn’t think, couldn’t breathe – she didn’t even look at the man before she lunged, punching him with absolutely everything in her. There was no reservation, no room for questions or explanations _or anything._ In one moment he was there and in the next he was partially through one of the monitors on the other side of the room. 

She stood there, fists still clenched, looking in horror as she realized that the punch hadn’t even been _satisfying._

But there were _priorities._

Delta was already beside York, cupping the Freelancer’s face in his hands as what was visible of York’s body shook in shock. Tex dropped beside him, but she was at a complete loss for what to say. 

“He’s dying,” Delta said, voice hollow and broken, like he couldn’t muster up any more emotion for the delivery. “I can block out the pain, but it’s… it’s a lot of concentration.”

“Try to keep it up anyway,” Tex said, unthinking as she grabbed her friend’s hand. “York, buddy… I… I don’t think the Director’s going to be causing shit like this anymore. We did it.”

York began to sag and Tex felt her heart squeeze in her chest. 

She looked to Delta, feeling an irrational spark of anger in her chest. “Are you helping him!?” she yelled at him.

Delta reached forward and pressed the palm of his hand against York’s forehead, his own grimace wrinkling his face in the process. But York’s body finally shook less. 

“I need to keep direct contact, it hurts too much,” Delta managed to get out. 

Tex felt ready to get sick, needed something else, _anything_ else to help when suddenly the alarms of the facility began to go off. 

Startled, she looked up just in time to notice that the Director was gone. Her eyes widened and she got to her feet. 

“I’m going to fucking _murder_ that bastard,” she declared before looking to Delta. “Delta, help me find him with your mind-thing.”

“I can’t without disrupting my link to York,” he said back before looking up at Tex weakly. “Please. Go without me. York needs me until… until the end.”

“This whole facility could go down if he’s triggered the self-destruct,” she warned him. “Delta, you could get killed, too.”

“If it’s all the same… I’m staying with York,” Delta said, looking back to his partner. “He… he made me a superhero.”

She looked at Delta for a moment before nodding. “If that’s what you want, kid.”

“It is,” he said assuredly. “I’ll take a moment to send you a map to the Director’s office just–” he took one hand off of York, flinching as he pointed his fingers toward Tex instead. “There.”

Unable to take her mind off of the Director any longer, not without risk of truly losing any sensibleness she had left, Tex took off for the rest of the facility. She couldn’t even bare to thank him. 

There was something she _had_ to do. 


	24. Texas No More

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, if it wasn’t apparent before, the tone of this installment is going to be bittersweet to the end, and arguably the darkest ending of any of the big installments for the series. I’ve been super anxious about this story coming to a close for that and a few other reasons as a result. However! I have just been very happy with the amazing love and support I’ve gotten all the way through this series. I was genuinely not expecting for this follow up to Hero Time to have nearly the amount of support it’s gotten and it’s just meant a whole lot to me to see people interested in these back stories and the general set up leading us into Hero Time so thank you so much! And for those of you who are reading this as your first installment to this series, please do not fret about the downer note this story ends on! The next chronological story, Hero Time, will give you all these characters and more a few years after this story’s end! And hopefully will make a lot more sense even to those who have read Hero Time before now that I’ve given some details about the past of the universe.
> 
> And most of all, I want to thank my collaborator and the just all around awesome artist @ashleystlawrence who helped inspire this AU as well as has provided just amazing artwork and costume designs throughout the installments. And also to @goodluckdetective for being a huge inspiration for this AU as well. This fic is absolutely in debt to the two of them.
> 
> And for those who are interested in playlists, since I gave one out for the first story, I made another one for this one you can find here:  
> [ http://renaroo.tumblr.com/post/148281274786/ ]
> 
> Special thanks to @secretlystephaniebrown, @analiarvb, @freshzombiewriter, @ephemeraltea, @notatroll7, @washingtonstub, @100wordsummaries, @a-taller-tale, @spooky-circuits, and Yin on tumblr and AO3 for the feedback!

She threw less than a fourth of her weight into the punch but it was still enough to send the safety sealed door flying into the room. No panic room was going to be worth the time of day when it came to her, and still yet the one in Freelancer’s facilities proved to be less than impressive.

When the door was cleared, Tex stepped into the room. 

The Director already had another gun trained on her, which was enough on its own to make Tex laugh long and bitterly. 

“Is that a threat?” she asked lowly.

“Yes,” he answered plainly. 

She stepped forward, ignoring the sounds of the weapon firing up. “You think I need _super strength_ to pummel you? You think I need extra _umph_ to my punch to give you what you deserve? I don’t. I’m going to break you like a _toothpick_ whether my barehands are super powered or not, asshole.” Her eyes narrowed more. “Or you think I’m going to miss being invisible? _Please._ If there’s one thing in my life I wouldn’t mind everyone and their mom _seeing_ me do, it’s putting an end to you.”

“And undo all the good the Freelancers have accomplished?” he asked, raising a brow steadily. 

Tex paused long enough to let out a real, true laugh at that. “You expect me to believe there has been _any_ good in all of this?” she asked wryly. “That’s rich.”

Without even moving, somehow the Director caused every screen on the walls behind him to turn on. Various reporters and newsfeeds from every channel, every country, were filling the room. Each and every one of them declaring that the Invasion was at a standstill, that talks were in progress.

“If our planet, our _species,_ is to survive, I must be alive and presenting irrefutable fact in regards to humanity’s involvement with the alien facsimiles found here on Earth,” the Director explained as Tex barely scanned through the news. “You see, if it were to be discovered that any organization on Earth developed this cloning technology, any hopes of peace would be lost entirely.”

“Gee, really sounds like something you should’ve put into consideration before fucking us all over,” Tex snapped.

The Director shook his head. “I had known you lacked vision, but the depths of which had not occurred to me until now.” His sharp eyes looked back at her, striking her right to her core. “I have done what I have not just for those of us who advance the race, but because it will not be long before those of us powerful, strong, and combative will be all that _can_ exist.” He threw his free hand toward the monitors. “Do you not see how strong and powerful it is for the _norm_ of other species? Here for the _slightest_ infarction on their sensibilities, they are preparing a mass extermination of us all.”

Gritting her teeth, Tex stomped forward, her foot breaking and sinking through the tile beneath it. “In just the last few hours _everyone I know_ is dying, and you want me to feel sorry for your failed vision? How about you _fuck off?”_

Almost in aggravation, the Director shook his head. “My dear Texas, you fail to understand what constitutes a _true hero_ even now. And it is a sad realization on my part to know that you have gotten through the ranks of my institution with such _poor_ attitude.”

Lunging forward, Tex burst through the weapon fist first, demolishing it on contact and sending the Director to the floor. 

He looked up at her, eyes determined and almost _knowing_ of what she was about to do. Tex pulled her arm back, nostrils flared. 

But she dropped her fist. 

With only a beat of silence between them, the Director sat up more and looked at Tex expectantly before checking his damaged hand. “Is this the lengths of your renowned temper and strength?”

“No,” Tex spat back. “Not even close. But I need you to know, first and foremost, that you’re wrong. That _everyone’s_ been wrong. Because I _absolutely_ know what makes a hero here, while obviously you chucklefucks running Freelancer have not.”

There still wasn’t any fear in the man’s eyes and something about that irritated the hell out of Tex. “Is that so?” he asked plainly.

“Yeah,” she snapped, grabbing him by the collar and hoisting him up to his feet. She spun him around and shoved him toward the computer system behind him. “It’s _so.”_

When the Director stumbled forward, Tex coolly stepped behind him and stood over his shoulder, eyes gleaming dangerously at him. “Do what you have to do to make sure that the world doesn’t get destroyed because of _your_ dumb ass.”

The Director placed his hands on the keyboards but hesitated long enough to look over his shoulder at her. “Of course, this makes you knowingly culpable in the destruction of evidence.”

“I was _completely_ willing to put my knuckles through your head two seconds ago. Do _not_ test me,” she warned. “Guilt trips don’t work on people without any guilt.”

“And you believe that is you? That you will walk away today, regardless of outcomes, feeling completely absolved of everything in your involvement?” the Director asked with a shake of his head. “You are either naive or less of a hero than I even first suspected.”

“Please,” Tex snapped, hand hovering subconsciously over her pocket. “You think I don’t have a plan beyond you?”

“No,” the Director said sharply, typing away. “I don’t believe you operate that way alone.”

Tex narrowed her eyes but bit back on revealing her trump card. “Well, I guess you never really understood your agents at all, Director. And you _definitely_ never understood me or even your son.”

He paused again, eyeing her in his periphery before continuing. He knew her confidence was not pure ignorance, at least. Perhaps he was finally understanding just how little she was ever under his thumb compared to all the others. 

"Once these invaders are taken care of, will you be going to the presses? Undermining the legacies of your fallen comrades? The ones who thought they were dying with honor and at service to their fellow man?” the Director asked.

“I don’t think it’s really going to be your business what I do one way or another, Director. But I don’t care for fame and attention,” she said snappishly. “I’ll just go to someone, _anyone,_ who can use the info I have. Let them decide who or who not to tell.”

The Director paused, head sinking slightly. “If it is known… There will likely never be a place in this world for superheroes again. It’ll be as it were for those you knew, outcast because of who they were born to be.”

Tex scowled. “I imagine there’ll always be a spot for heroes, Director. Just not yours or mine.”

Growing quiet once more, the Director finished inputting whatever it was in the computer, then stepped back. The flashing of the lights all grew to a singularity – a blinding red and a siren blared. 

“And so marks the end of Project Freelancer,” he said solemnly. “The end of _my_ heroes. Though it is mighty curious to me just what makes you think it’s also the end of yours–”

Before he could finish, Tex gave the man an uppercut, sending him flying back, hitting the console and falling over unconscious to the floor. His body hit the metal with a solid _thud_ and Tex looked at the man with disdain.

“Because the world doesn’t need a hero in the limelight who’s not going to feel the least bit bad about leaving you buried under rubble, Director,” she said lowly. “I saw a lot of heroes today, ones who risked it all and ended up giving up it all because they wanted to save something bigger than themselves. Guess I just want to prove I’m willing to do that, too.” She pulled out the drive from her pocket and looked at it heavily before putting it away again. “Even if it means doing exactly what everyone always thought, and never being that _Big Damn Hero_ who saves it all.”

She turned as the self destruct continued to count down and rushed toward the nearest exit she could remember. She still had one last thing to make sure of before it was all over.

With everything happening all at once, she still needed to get to Church. And Tucker – hell, even that Caboose kid. Figure out what exactly was happening on that front.

But as she neared the very exit she had used before, Tex stopped just short when she saw a body on the floor, half drug there, that she knew wasn’t there before. 

“Wyoming?” she asked skeptically before rushing forward. 

Her eyes narrowed suspiciously and she neared him cautiously before kneeling beside him. He was moaning on the floor about something almost incoherent. 

A large part of Tex was more than ready to leave him behind, just as she had done with the Director, but a larger part was curious. She hadn’t seen him since Delta had psychically attack. So she kicked his shoulder enough to roll him on his back.

His face turned toward hers immediately and his eyes, black spheres she got lost in immediately, turned on her face. It was–

“Omega!” she snapped just before her vision swirled and her ears began to ring. 

She tried to fight it, she did, but she couldn’t hardly think straight just seconds into it. Just fleeting thoughts – _Tucker! Church! Evidence! Alpha!_  – swimming and getting lost one by one. 

Tex needed to get to them, needed to explain everything, but the voice between her ears raised a good point. 

_You’re not really Texas anymore._

That could have been the end, it could have been it all – Omega was strong enough. She didn’t know _how_ he was so strong, but he was. And in a blink between consciousness she could see the hours pass by. But she didn’t stop. 

And Omega didn’t always win. 

And the more they fought, the more her body stayed uncontrolled, hidden away in various locations between Omega running amuck. 

 _I need you,_ Omega assured her. _I just want to tell the truth, too. I was double crossed. I do not take that lightly._

“Frankly, I don’t give a shit,” Tex gritted back. “And I _don’t_ need you, so I’ll just fight until you’re bored of me. Unless you help me do what I need to,” she promised. 

 _And what would that be?_ Omega asked, seemingly intrigued. 

Tex sat up, pulling out the drive with all of CT’s research. “We take this to the mayor. Let the people in charge handle it – _if_ they promise to take care of the victims of Freelancer. Families. Friends. Estates. And the Freelancers that are left.”

 _Your rookie friend is the only one left,_ Omega chuckled darkly. _Officially._

She grit her teeth. “Then Wash gets it all.” 

 _What else?_ Omega asked quietly.

“Let me see my friends,” she requested. “We’ll see them and–” 

Tex stopped as she looked around and realized just where they were. She got to her feet, eyes wide. They were already in Blood Gulch. 

He had taken her home. 

“Why are we _here!?”_ she demanded, not even pausing before grabbing the rungs of the nearest fire escape and climbing the floors to Church and Tucker’s apartment. “How did you know to _come_ here!?”

 _I’m in your head, fool!_ he pointed out, laughing.

“Shut up,” she ordered, putting her feet on the level of Church’s window and hesitating before opening the window. 

The computers were still on, the way they had been when she left what seemed like hours before. There was a low hum and a faint blue glow that almost made her do a double take. 

Until she saw what was on Church’s bed. 

She stared at him for a good, long bit. Unsure of what she was _really_ seeing until she stepped closer. The stand beside the bed, the one that usually had the newest model of Alphabot, was empty, but that hardly seemed important given who was laying on the sheets.

Tex stood by his chest and waited for it to rise or fall. _Something._

“Hey, nerd,” she said breathlessly. “Saved the world today… whether you like it or not, I’m the hero.” She  paused and ran a hand through her hair. “I mean, I guess I’d never be where I am if it weren’t for a little bit of your help but… I did it myself. And I’d like to think you’d be even more proud of that than if it’s everything you wanted from the start, right?”

She looked back at the stand to make sure it was empty before pulling it up and sitting down beside him. 

“Listen, I don’t… I don’t know what happened, and I want to ram my fist through faces so bad right now I don’t know if it’s even _smart_ to talk to Tucker and your gang of losers right now,” she admitted tiredly. “And I don’t know if I believe you can hear me now… But if you can, I want you to remember that I’m a fucking hero, Church. I’m… I’m the best. Because I made sure no one would ever really know _why_ I was. And for someone who used to elicit a self-proposed tax for stopping muggings… I think that’s pretty good, huh?”

Tex sucked in a deep breath and pushed back onto her feet, yanking off her visor and wiping at her eyes rapidly.

 _To Mayor Hargrove then?_ Omega asked impatiently.

“Whatever,” Tex replied, putting her visor back on as soon as she could. 

_And you really think this can all make you the hero?_

She smirked as she stepped out onto the fire escape. “I don’t have to think, you evil bastard in my brain. _I know_ I’m the big hero. I never needed anyone else to know.”

But even as she leapt down and began the long on foot journey to the center of the still ongoing chaos, Tex couldn’t help but think it would’ve been nice for _someone_ to know. 


End file.
